The strange library
by Aravas
Summary: Ah, yes, a reaction fic. Except there is no host, no real rules and madness all over. Or is it? Do read about the uncovering of secrets, adventures of a golden noodle and the occasional loss of sanity. (Rated M for safety.)
1. Chapter 1

**So yeah. This will be a thing.**

**I _did_ say that I wanted to do this, if only for shits and giggles.**

**First chapter will be, well, the introduction and first viewing.**

**I hope you like my way of writing this.**

**Also, holy fuckbuzzard, the transcribing of a video is a fucking chore.**

**Based on: _SMG4: Super Challenge 64_ by SMG4**

**Disclaimer: RWBY is property of Rooster Teeth and Monty Oum. Any original characters starring in the video and the plot belong to Luke and Kevin Lerdwichagul.**

**Enjoy!**

The strange library

Chapter 1: The room and the challenge

"I'm boooored!"

It was a day of leisure for all students of Beacon. Classes were off following the Breach, truly an event to remember. The students now had a few days of leisure on their hands, as the incidentn was basically ruled as a variety of classes combined.

Either that or Ozpin wanted a few days off for himself and the staff. Rumors had it that he feared Miss Goodwitch going ballistic at any more additional work.

Hence the issue with the boredom. Ruby Rose, leader of Team RWBY, already did weapons maintenance and read her magazines. Her male bestie Jaune was off running errands in the part of Vale that hasn't been devastated by the Grimm, Weiss wasn't up for some fun, preferring to study, Yang was also idling about and Blake was being Blake, reading her filth.

"I am BOOOO-"

"Will you pipe it down, you dolt?!" yelled Weiss, fed up with her leader. "If you are so bored, you could always study. Oum knows you still need to."

"But we have a free day," the reaper whined. "I don't wanna waste it on studying!"

"A day studying is never wasted," insisted the heiress. "Now come with me. We are going to the library. Maybe then your whining will cease."

Ruby pouted and tried her puppy eyes. Shamefully her own sister betrayed her plans of lazing about and complaining for the sake of it. "You know, that sounds like a plan. We should take 'Remnant: The Game' with us." Yang was quite excited to finish what they started before the dance and the Breach, without Neptune screwing them over. She idly wondered if Vomit Boy would be up for a game as she never had seen him play. She was always looking for a challenge.

"I will accompany you, then," Blake spoke up, closing her favorite piece of literature to follow the rest of her team. The disguised cat faunus had sworn to herself that she would bond with her team a little more. Hanging out in the library would most certainly accomplish that.

"See, even Kitty Cat agrees," Yang exclaimed in triumph, prompting the named to shoot her partner a glare.

/-/

As Team RWBY opened the doors to the library they were met with commotion.

"I keep telling you, it's a gateway!"

"Nora, that is mere science-fiction."

"Then you explain how this door came here!"

"Erm, maybe the headmaster had the room refurbished."

"That is unlikely, Velvet. Though I, too, am curious about this strange new door."

The team was treated to the sight of Team JNPR sans Jaune and Team CFVY debating in front of a door that seemed to be crafted out of acacia wood, judging by the light orange tinge of the wood itself.

"Well, fancy meeting you here!" Yang greeted the two teams in her usual jovial manner. Coco turned around to greet the team of huntresses alongside her own team, hips cocked slightly to the side. "Fancy meeting you here as well. I take it you heard the ginger here?"

"How can we not?" deadpanned Weiss, far more familiar with the volume of the Valkyrie than she had ever wanted to be.

"So what are you doing here in the first place?" inquired Ruby, curious about her sister team's activities whenever Jaune wasn't around. That did not happen all that often, she found.

"Pyrrha wanted to find out more about Jaune-Jaune's family since- mlp!" A hand on her mouth interrupted the hammer wielder from speaking any more. "I was curious, that's all," Pyrrha finished for her team member while muffling her. This earned the champion doubting gazes from Velvet, who nursed a bit of a crush on the blonde knight ever since first semester, Ruby, who was well on the way of developing a crush herself, and Yang, who did not believe a word.

"Anyhow," Coco interjected, "We met by happenstance here and discovered this door. Fox swears it wasn't here before and so does Yats. What do you think?"

"It definitely wasn't there yesterday," Blake confirmed, the bookworm keeping close tabs on the library. "Meaning it was set up overnight. Somehow." She was contemplating the indications of this occurrence.

As the three teams kept arguing, Nora decided that the best way to do it was to, well, do it. So she opened the mystery door.

"Nora, wait!" yelled Ren in a n uncharacteristic display of emotion.

Nothing happened.

The eleven hunters-in-training looked into the now opened room and saw it leading into a large hall.

In front of a number of seating rows, lined with fine fabric, was a large display, as if it was all set up for a…

"MOVIE THEATRE!" Nora shouted into the room. The fabric-covered walls provided no audible echo. "It's a secret movie theatre, Renny!"

"Yes, Nora," Pyrrha replied instead. "Though why is it here?"

"Let's explore!" The reaper shot in and looked around, ignoring the cry from her sister to get back. After the initial hesitation, the students slowly filed in, looking around. Apart from the display and the seating area and a large shelf, the room seemed mostly empty.

Wait, roll that back?

Yes, a large shelf full of what appeared to be DVDs was just peculiarly placed against the wall with a variety of cases with said DVDs, displaying various titles.

"Ooh, ooh, ooh! I know what we're doing today!" Ruby was racing to the shelf, taking one of the cases…

and stilled.

Yang noticed first. "Rubes?"

"Curious." Yatsuhashi, the giant of Team CFVY, had taken a case himself, one that displayed a title about Kung Fu, an ancient philosophy that involved fighting and self-discipline.

The cover also, prominently, showed a familiar blonde noodle.

"Wait, Jaune is in that?" Velvet was growing quite curious, even more so when she pulled one about a Revolution, starring Jaune with Crocea Mors raised to the sky, giving what appeared to be a fierce battlecry and a large bipedal metal monster behind him in shadows.

"Here he is too! Is Fearless Leader a secret movie star?!" Nora was raising a case about Jaune being a father up above her head.

"No, he is not." Blake was looking at one herself.

"And how do you know?" Yang looked at her with curiosity. Truthfully, she had never seen her partner interact with Vomit Boy a lot, so she was intrigued what prompted that conclusion.

"We star in these as well."

She showed everyone a case about a...dating show? Starring Jaune with the clearly recognizable Team RWBY in all new outfits looking at him in curiosity.

"Hm, nice duds. Thinking about upgrading?" Coco was the most fashion oriented, digging the outfits.

Weiss' reaction was far less pleasant, even if she had started her icy relationship with the blonde doofus anew. "A dating show?! And with us?! Outrageous!"

"Please don't scream so much," Velvet whimpered, holding her sensitive ears.

Nora, meanwhile, had dug up one of her own and raced, unnoticed by all, to the large display. Just as she had theorized in her brain, there was a slot for the DVD.

"Does that mean we are in some sort of otherworldly realm?" Yatsu pondered out loud. The giant found himself intrigued by this entire situation."

"Wait!" Pyrrha interjected, catching everyone's attention. "Can we even get back out?"

As if the universe answered, the door, which had been closed by the ever courteous Velvet, swung back open.

"Whoa, trippy." Sun Wukong and Neptune Vasilias had entered the room and made to shut the door behind them.

"Wait no!"

Slam! The door fell shut.

"Huh?" Sun noticed the group. "Hey, guys!" He gave his best upbeat grin. His partner beside him was trying and failing to give his best smile, but had to wince at the sight of the icy heiress. Ever since the incident with Team NDGO, the two had broken their relationship off and were on unfavorable terms, at least from Weiss' side. Neptune acknowledged his fuck-up, particularly after he had to endure a surprisingly brutal punch to the face from his wingman.

No, he was not talking about Sun here.

"Why?" the monkey king asked as he reopened the door effortlessly. "See? It opens back up."

The others breathed a sigh of relief. "Fox was getting worried," the large swordsman parsed for those not connected to the telepathy semblance, even if it earned him a dirty glare from his partner.

**Blinggg!**

Everyone's attention turned to the screen, which was now flaring up.

"Explanations for later!" Nora announced. "Take a seat and let's enjoy the show!"

Those who knew her sighed and those who didn't were either stunned or rose a single eyebrow at her impatience. Either way they all made to sit. Weiss herself made a point to sit as far away from the blue-haired teen as possible.

**Nora was sitting on her scroll in her room, humming a delightful tune. All seemed well and tranquil. **

"So far, so unspectacular," Coco commented, earning her a shush from Nora.

**Suddenly, yelling was heard along with a crash and someone gasping out in pain. Nora seemed confused by the commotion, but paid it no mind and resumed her activities.**

"That was Jaune!" Pyrrha was in full Mother-Hen-mode, causing giggles from some. Ruby and Velvet were just as concerned as she was.

**Not long after, more yelling occurred, successfully annoying the hammer wielder.**

"**Ow, my ass!" yelled a voice sounding suspiciously like her fearless leader. This time, Nora waited for a bit before continuing.**

"What _is_ Arc doing?" Weiss wanted to know, brows knit together.

**Immediately after, a louder crash came from outside, with Jaune yelling "My penis!" in a pained fashion as Nora got ready to yell at him.**

The men in the audience winced, sharing the pain as Yang couldn't help but giggle.

"How did he hurt himself like that?" Sun asked. "What is he doing in the first place?"

**The door exploded away from its angles.**

"**WILL YOU SHUT UP?!" She yelled, louder than usual. She spotted Ruby out on the corridor and asked her outright.**

"**What the heck is going on out here!?" she demanded to know.**

**Ruby was busy observing her fellow leader with mild horror. The blonde was running backwards, careening straight through a wall, hitting Sky who landed uncomfortably on the ground.**

The students were speechless.

"He is hurting himself, causing damage to the school," the heiress was trying to wrap her head around it. "By running backwards?"

"Our juniors are strange," Yatsu supplied, getting a nod from Fox.

Nora and Yang were laughing.

"**...I told Jaune that it wasn't possible to walk backwards for a whole day," the red reaper bashfully admitted. Right on cue, the Vomit Boy rushed to the other side, inexplicably causing an explosion with someone complaining about a meatloaf. "and he took up the challenge."**

**That gave Nora a very entertaining idea. "Hmm is it possible challenges huh?" She was already crafting a plan for the day.**

"Dejà vu," Blake commented, thinking about their current situation.

Nora was getting hysterical about the damages done by a Fearless leader running backwards. Velvet grew more and more concerned.

**The dorky blonde seemed incredibly focused and determined to complete the challenge. "They say I run faster than light itself," he psyched himself as he ran through a door out into the courtyard, right over the cliff and into Vale causing him to scream.**

**Both Nora and Ruby looked through the hole in the door after him. "Shouldn't we do something?" Ruby asked, truly unsure of the whole affair.**

"**Yeah," the bubbly bomber confirmed...and whipped out her scroll. "Challenge video time!"**

"**Challenges?" Ruby was one hundred percent behind this. "Bring it on!"**

"Jaune just fell down a cliff, and _that's _what you want to do?!" Pyrrha was this close to smack Nora upside the head.

She tried to defend herself. "It's Fearless Leader! You know, crazy aura reserves, can take one hell of a beating?"

"He is still human!" retorted his overbearing partner. "What if he is hurt?"

**Challenge 1: Is it possible for Jaune to run backwards for a day?**

**The aforementioned knight ran a couple over who seemed in a bit of a spat, paying no mind to whatever was behind him.**

"Apparently he is not," observed Yatsu, making the champion sit down with an embarrassed blush.

"**HAH! I'm destroying this challenge!" he celebrated as he barreled over various passerbys, not noticing the collisions at all…**

**somehow.**

"Wonder what he could do to the Grimm with that," Coco riffed.

"He could have closed the Breach single-handedly, if that were his semblance," Yatsu theorized.

"It would be the silliest semblance ever," Yang giggled, which ceased at her partners comment: "A semblance you could not stop."

Yang grumbled, denying the possibility. Particularly because it would be embarrassing. She imagined Cardin getting run over, which cheered her up.

**Even a poor young man sitting on a swing was not safe as he was sent flying over 35000 feet, judging by a conveniently showing speedometer, and crashed against a sign.**

"**A new record!" someone commented.**

"Oh sweet Monty Oum!" Nora gasped out between laughs. Next to her, Ren was watching the entire thing with mounting intrigue and horror.

"**Haha! This is Jaune's fast-as-fuck express!"**

"I'm using that," both Yang and Nora said, leading to a staredown.

**Meanwhile, at a hospital…**

"**I-i am-a so sorry," the doctor apologized, handing his irate patient Junior his diagnosis on paper.**

"**Nooo," he complained. "Lumpy-Penis-Syndrome, are you kidding me?"**

"Lumpy what now?!" The heiress was incensed. What kind of special brand of insanity was this… _dimension,_ for it could only be one such case regarding the circumstances, if such a disease existed?

The men present wished to _never ever_ either have or see a case of "Lumpy-Penis-Syndrome".

Yang was in absolute hysterics, because hey, it was Junior!

**In comes Jaune, breaking through the wall seamlessly and somehow, someway, ripping the bartender's lower body clean off.**

**Hei Xiong was left a torso, inconspicuously levitating above the ground. He looked down on himself.**

**His spirits lifted immediately. "Alright, I'm cured!"**

Weiss was hyperventilating at the insanity she beheld as Yang was laughing herself sick. Ruby was a giggling mess as well and Coco just sat back and enjoyed the chaos without thinking too much.

It was better for her mental health, anyway.

**The rampage continued, with a policeman standing in front of a variety of exploding buildings. Only far too late he had noticed the blonde young man as he ran backwards past him, right over a street.**

"**JAYWALKING!" the officer yelled as the street behind him was on fire.**

"Vale steht in Flammen, du Arschloch, und das ist es was dich aufregt?!" Weiss screeched in Mantle. Everyone turned to look at her, shivering and teetering near a nervous breakdown from all this.

**Jaune was jubilating, not paying the police any mind.**

**Nora, still recording her video, was somewhat rattled at this entire showcasing of destructive potential. She turned to the camera lens.**

"**Uhh...hehe. Let's come back to Jaune-Jaune later."**

"Yes, _please,_" the heiress begged, having enough of this already.

**Challenge 2: Is it possible for Neptune to be good at a sport?**

**Neptune seemed rather down at the prospect. "Sports? Aww man...I'm not the type to sweat during extensive physical activities."**

Everyone turned to regard the playboy.

"Hey, I am not like that!" he defended himself.

"**Well too bad!" Nora yelled at him. "'Cause the football team already volunteered!"**

"Oh no."

**And with that, Nep was thrown into a stadium, with a helmet on his head and the handegg next to him.**

**He was not prepared.**

**The players charged him immediately, bowling him over and carrying the ball off as Nep was left wheezing on the ground.**

Weiss could be saying that she felt no satisfaction at seeing her ex run over.

She would be lying though.

**Next he had to play soccer.**

"**Wait, wasn't boxing scheduled first?" the aquaphobe inquired.**

**Nora answered, swift as the wind: "We skipped it! Yang assured us that you suck at it!"**

The fiery blonde nodded along, causing Nep to sulk a little with Sun snickering.

**Neptune grumbled, but got ready to kick the ball, only to mess up the form and punt it against the goalpost. The ball hammered right into the face of Peter Port, who had been passing by.**

"**My spine is in my brain!" he proclaimed, muffled by the ball.**

"Good Oum, Nep!" Sun was mortified. "I get that he is a boring teacher, but Port didn't deserve that!"

"I know that myself!" Neptune was in shock, as was the rest of everyone present. Save for Nora who was giggling at the casual statement.

**The blue haired teen was horrified, and rightfully so. "Maybe I should be more gentle," he said to himself as he lightly kicked the next ball away.**

**The little sphere rolled onto the street, seemingly harmless, only for a car to rocket over it, managing to _slip_, causing the driver to exclaim "Holy shit!" as the vehicle _La Cucaracha'_d over the street and exploded spectacularly.**

"**Spicy!" yelled Jaune as he ran by the spectacle, leaving a horrified Neptune behind.**

**[Failed]**

"That settles it. We are not letting you anywhere near a ball!" Sun's ultimatum was absolute. He did not want to find out what his friend and teammate would do with one.

"How did he even…?" Weiss was still trying to comprehend, poor thing.

"Just," Blake decided that there was a limit to everything. "Don't overthink it. It's obviously a part of some comedy routine."

A ridiculously over the top one.

Needless to say, Nora was having the time of her life.

**Challenge 3: Is it possible for Ruby to cross a lake?**

"**What kinda challenge is that?" the reaper complained, thinking it too easy. **

"Yeah!" Ruby concurred. The others were confused at this whole thing. That couldn't be it, right?

**The excited yell of one Russel Thrush caught her attention, approaching the lake she was standing in front of. The teen with the mohawk jumped in...only to rocket right back out, somehow having caught fire.**

"**Nevermind," Ruby squeaked.**

The reaper in the theater agreed with the other her.

Coco was howling with laughter. Despite the heel-face-turn of team CRDL following a field trip to Forever Fall she had yet to forgive any of them.

**There had to be a way...aside from using someone else as a boat or using an actual boat.**

**Ruby's gaze caught the one thing to help her; a jetski was resting at the beach.**

"**How convenient." Little Red was was positively gushing over this coincidence with big puppy eyes and an actual squeaking sound.**

"Can you do that sound?!" Nora asked the little red, hoping she could.

"No?" Ruby was unsure herself.

**Mere moments later she was off onto the lake, enjoying the breeze of the drive. This challenge was easy now!**

**Except when it wasn't.**

**Two Grimm sharks made their presence known as they approached the scythe wielder with sounds as if they were two men imitating a chainsaw revving.**

"What." Blake was lost for words.

"The." Yatsu was utterly blindsided by this.

"Fuck?!" It was a rarity for Velvet to swear, though here it was entirely appropriate.

'_Good thing I decided to follow Blake's advice_,' Weiss thought as she retreated to her happy place.

**That was not the weird part.**

**The weird part was approaching as Ruby took out a sidearm, aiming it a one of the sharks.**

"**That's a killshot!" it yelled out, eyes bulging as it was shot in the face, crying out in pain.**

"They can speak?" Nora wanted one, making Ren's eye twitch a little.

"**Please don't hurt mee," the other pleaded right before it was shot a way as well. **

**Ruby had no time to celebrate, however, as the first one rammed the jetski right from below, sending her flying upwards, little later descending right onto the shark with it's maw open. The reaper landed, legs spreading right at the edges of the shark's mouth.**

Yang was holding her little sister in a vice grip. "Too close, way too close!" She ignored the cries to let her go.

"**Get in mah bellah," it screamed impatiently. Ruby, however, had an ace up her sleeve. Her trusty weapon, Crescent Rose, unfurled, pointed right into it's gullet.**

"**WHAT," was the shark's reaction.**

This got a laugh from Sun. He loved these bug-eyed expressions.

"**Hasta la vista, baby," quoted Rubes as her shot exploded the shark and sent her flying again, landing point blank onto her jetski. Her celebration was cut short by a large fish coming up and swallowing her whole.**

**She was spit out onto the shore only seconds later.**

**[Failed]**

"Nice quote," noted Coco. "Shame that it fell a little short."

Ruby just grumbled, pouting a little as Yang breathed a sigh of relief about her sister, her _family_ being okay.

**Challenge 4: Is it possible for Yang to go 10 minutes without swearing?**

"Easy," the boisterous bruiser stated, her trademark grin on her face.

**Yang was taken aback by this and instinctively answered.**

"**Of course I can,! What kind of stupid ass question is that?" [Failed]**

"**Hey, that doesn't count! Let me try again you assholes!" [Failed]**

"Apparently not," noted Weiss with mild amusement, prompting a glare from the blonde.

**Yang took _that_ as a challenge instead as she glared into the camera.**

"**Dicks!" She danced on the street [Failed]**

"**Bollocks!" She was close to the camera. [Failed]**

"**Tiddies!" She squatted on the ground. [Failed]**

"**Butthole!" She was sliding across the ground. [Failed]**

"**Bastard!" She reappeared right in front of the camera. [Failed]**

"**Come on you sons of bitches" [Failed] "let me go again!" Yang was getting frustrated. "You guys are being dicks right now!" [Failed]**

While Yang was pouting, the rest was highly amused by this.

"This is where vulgar comedy is well placed," Yatsu stated, nodding with a smile. "I like this."

**As if right on cue, Jaune was running along in the background, prompting Yang to turn around.**

"Sweet Oum, not again!" Weiss was near despair and retreated back into her happy place. Nora was beaming again, wanting to watch her leader destroy everything by running backwards into it.

**The scene changed to a "Breaking News" broadcast. A frog faunus was moderating.**

"**We interrupt this broadcast to bring you a special news bulletin. A noodly human boy is on a destructive rampage running backwards across the city of Vale!"**

"Peak newscasting," snarked Ren in a rare moment of humor for him, making the others laugh.

**It was official, Jaune was panicking.**

**A cop popped out of the window of the car chasing him. "Stop breaking the law, asshole!" he yelled at him.**

"**NO! I want to complete this challenge!" he yelled back, determined now more than ever to see this to it's end.**

"Just comply!" Velvet did not want her crush to be arrested. Pyrrha could not agree more, joining in.

"**I didn't even do anything illegal!" he said as he ran into a car, which exploded. "Shit."**

"Not helping your case there, bro," commented Sun, still laughing at the absurdity. Neptune was looking on in horror.

"**Stop it!" The policeman yelled back as he drew shotguns akimbo. "Get some help."**

**Now the knight had to look for whatever he could use as a distraction or obstruction and found Qrow idling on a motorbike. Without missing a beat, it was picked up along with the driver! "You'll never take me alive!" Jaune screamed as he yeeted the bike with the huntsman at the car, causing yet another explosion.**

"Just his luck," stated Yang, already used to the modus operandi of what they were watching.

"You know that man?" Weiss was curious.

Ruby nodded energetically. "That's our druncle Qrow! He has a semblance that causes bad luck!"

Everyone hearing of this were suddenly very happy with their semblances.

**Challenge 5: Is it possible for Blake to go an hour without reading her newest smut?**

_Everyone_ gave her the side eye, making Blake actually pout in indignance.

"**First off, it's erotic literature," she objected. "Secondly, of course I can." The ravenette sat down on a sofa. "It's not that hard, really."**

"**Hey!"**

**Blake blinked, looking over at the book resting on the nightstand. It was a new one titled _Icha Icha_.**

**A vision of the books main character appeared. "I need me some big ol' ass!" he proclaimed.**

It took a moment of silence before the audience erupted into laughter.

"You're hallucinating!" Yang gasped out, pointing at a furiously blushing Blake. "You are actually hallucinating!"

"Does that count as going cold turkey?" Coco grinned as she giggled.

Blake had enough and turned away, trying to tune them out. "This is ridiculous."

**Blake did not need more confirmation and instead opened her scroll. "Perhaps a distraction is in order."**

**The scroll showed the news of Jaune on the run, a show where paternities were confirmed to discuss child support, an interview with a scientist admitting to reading erotic literature and some guy doing a reading of, you guessed it…**

"Strange coincidences, huh?" Yang was _never _going to let that go.

**Blake had enough and threw her scroll, bolting out of the room, only to find a pair discussing S&M. This had the cat faunus run towards the city of Vale where everything seemed to haunt her.**

No one really had a comment for that. Why would you discuss S&M in public, anyway?

**Wherever she looked she saw bookstores advertising brand new smut, a person brazenly walking out in the open reading porn, not just erotic literature, not just smut, but outright _porn…_**

"**Dammit!"**

"The world itself is teasing you!" Yang was having a field day with this.

**Finally, salvation seemed near. Blake recognized her partner's hair from a mile away, running towards her.**

"**Yang, I need your help!" she yelled out, only for Yang to turn around, a _very_ familiar book in her hands.**

Eyes turned to Yang who had the decency to fall silent and blush a little.

"So you've read it?" Blake, despite the teasing smile on her own face, was genuinely curious.

The brawler admitted to it, looking sheepish.

"Did you like it?"

She was fumbling a little with words, but ultimately said: "It was surprisingly good. Didn't think it would be that way, but...yeah."

This was vindication enough for the literature lover. She relished having her partner admit to liking her favorite book. Truly, the mysterious Apajal was a master of writing.

"**GAH!"**

**Blake bolted up from where she sat. She had fallen asleep, managing to sleep through the entire hour.**

"**Told you I would make it," she played it off. [Success]**

"**Blake I need help." Yang had appeared out of nowhere, startling Blake and having her run away.**

"**Ah, dicks," Yang grumbled. [Failed]**

"**Oh son of a BI-"**

A fresh gale of laughter rent through the theater. Everyone involved felt refreshed by the sudden levity that was not the unexpected noodle wrecking everything.

**Challenge 6: Is it possible for Weiss to be nice?**

Weiss was outraged. "Excuse me?!"

**Weiss seemed indignant at the insinuation. "Nice? I AM NICE!" she contradicted herself. And she was willing to prove it, too. Right on cue, an old man walked up, trying to cross the street. This was the opportunity for Weiss!**

"**Hello!" She successfully got the man's attention just as he started walking on the street. The heiress met him with a _scarily_ forced smile. "Need help crossing?"**

"Weiss, can you promise me to never ever force a smile?" Ruby asked pretty please.

'_I think I am gonna have some nightmares_,' Neptune thought.

**The old man's heart stopped.**

"You killed him!" Nora yelled at a horrified heiress.

"**OK, that one doesn't count," Weiss clarified as she walked away only for the man to be run over.**

"That was the car that exploded, was it not?" Yats was baffled at what was currently happening.

"Why do you people still question things here?!" Coco was just about done with her underclassmens' shit.

**A little downtrodden over this failure, she sat down onto a bench and was met with a peculiar occurrence. A cat had approached her, purring against her leg.**

"Awww, cutie," cooed Ruby, who appreciated anything cute.

"Not as cute as Zwei," Weiss threw in. "But definitely there."

"**Thank you, little cat," she replied to the thing as I meowed up at her. "I suppose you are hungry."**

**Weiss looked about and spotted a vending machine for various drinks, milk being amongst them. Determined the heiress approached the machine and paid it by stabbing it with Myrtenaster to produce a bottle of milk.**

"Now that's what I call _taking a stab_!" Yang punned, to the general groaning of the others, making her pout.

**She gave it to the cat. No bowl was required as the cat grabbed the whole thing with it's paws and gorged itself on it. [Success]**

**Challenge 7: Is it possible for Velvet to go through a haunted mansion?**

The bunny faunus deflated. "Please no."

Coco was surprised to hear it. "Not good with ghosts, Bun-Bun?" Her partner shook her head.

**Velvet was not good with anything spooky.**

"**Oh, why did I agree to this?" she asked herself in vain. "I don't know how to get out of here." She had been wandering through the abandoned hallways for a few minutes now.**

**To find the way out, she opened some doors.**

**Door Number 1: She was greeted by a Geist screaming a greeting at her.**

"Why are all the Grimm so...vocal?" Blake wanted to genuinely ask before being shut up by a glare from Coco. She shut her mouth, getting the message.

**Door number 2: A skeleton demanded her butt.**

"Reserved!" The bunny yelled before registering what she just said. This lead to the biggest grin on her leader's face, sensible chuckles from Fox and Yats, giggling from most of the rest and a questioning gaze from a certain redhead.

**Door number 3: Goodwitch was glaring at her, repeatedly slapping her riding crop against her palm.**

"Okay, _that_ was spooky." Yang joked, getting not laughs but genuine nods. '_I can live with that,_' she thought.

**Velvet just wanted to go home now. "I'm going to die here, I know it!" Just then a certain someone made his approach known. "What is that?!"**

**Jaune was coming right at her, a car in hot pursuit. Somehow she ended up entangled with the running blonde and getting taken for a ride.**

"And the knight rescues his bunny!" Coco just waited for this to come up. A screech of 'Coco!' from her flustered teammate did not deter her from the rightful teasing as the redhea saw her suspicions confirmed.

"**Oh hey Velvet! What are you doing here?" said the man who had no business being there.**

"**I should be asking you the same question!" she yelled back in panic. "Get us out of here!"**

**And just like that, they were out. Jaune had broken through the main entrance, losing Velvet in the process who was just curled up on the ground and happy to be out.**

"**See you Velvet!" [Success]**

"Thank you, Jaune," the meek girl with the same confidence issues as her blonde savior mumbled.

**And now, the thrilling conclusion!**

**Jaune was chased by a tank with an overly excitable commander who demanded they fire everything.**

**'Everything' being a shot from their cannon, which missed by a country mile.**

"Are these people...no, I won't question it. Everyone there is an escaped mental patient anyway, including the laws of whatever universe this is."

That gave the others a little pause as they pondered Weiss' words. It _was_ the best explanation to what they were seeing right now, namely weirder versions of themselves in a world gone insane.

"Mulitversal cinema," whispered Nora, surprising Ren a little and Pyrrha a lot. She rarely whispered and the champion never heard her speak at this volume. "Best day ever."

**One of the crew members popped up. "Uh, sarge? What do we do?"**

"**BRING IN THE BIG ONE!" was the answer. "Time to end this!"**

**A bullhead approached and dropped a very large Dust bomb right over where Jaune was currently running at.**

**One massive explosion later, the entire town center was in ruins.**

**And Jaune?**

**He popped out of a pile of rubble, still running as the moon set and the sun rose.**

**Now the blonde knight looked around to behold the carnage wrought.**

"**Hey! I MADE IT! I MADE IT!" He started a victory dance. "IN YOUR FACE, RUBY!"**

**[Success]**

**Nora popped out of another pile of rubble. "This will get _so_ many clicks on ScrollNet!"**

The screen went black.

The students were recuperating from the mess they were watching just now. Weiss was off to her happy place, not trying to think about the crazy tank commander that basically destroyed Vale over a guy who was running backwards.

Pyrrha, Ruby and Velvet were all breathing sighs of relief that their shared crush was alive despite that insanely strong bomb. Sure, they also felt for whatever poor civilian was caught up in that, but they were fine, right?

Right?

Yatsu and Yang were already planning to organize a vote with their own pick already having their two votes. Blake was curious about the DVD with the dating show and another she had seen.

Something about dreams and happily ever afters.

Just then the door opened once more.

"My, my, what is this?"


	2. Chapter 2

**Apologies!**

**For the lack of updates, I mean.**

**Real life has been a bitch and a half again, so I didn't really get to writing.**

"**For want of a knight" is gonna resume next week, with the update planned for today.**

**This time will be something that may be has been done before, but not in the way I am gonna write it. It will be short, but funny.**

**I hope.**

**After that, well…**

**You will see.**

**I praise whoever made the transcript. There was only a little editorial work left for me.**

**Disclaimer: RWBY is the property of Rooster Teeth. Kung Fu Panda is property of Dreamworks.**

The strange library

Chapter 2: legendary battle

The teachers had arrived

"What is the meaning of this?" Glynda Goodwitch asked, intrigued by the room. "This was not here before."

"Outstanding!" Oobleck zipped through the room. "These walls are decked with fine velvet. And this large shelf! How was this set up overnight, I must ask?"

Ozpin looked around, an eyebrow raised in intrigue. "I, frankly, do not have a clue."

Port was his usual jovial self and the first one to notice the students in the seats. "Well I'll be! Hello, students! Do you perchance know what this is?"

Weiss elected herself to explain. "We have discovered this room by chance, professors." The adults listened to her intently. "This seems to be a cinema room of sorts."

"It's multiversal cinema!" shouted the Valkyrie.

"I was getting to that, Nora!" Weiss chastised the excitable sloth lover. At the curious looks of the men and the disbelieving of Miss Goodwitch, she continued, "But yes. This shelf you see here seems to hold a variety of videos that seem to be of that nature, showing us different versions of our counterparts."

"Fearless Leader destroyed Vale by running backwards in the first one!"

And there it was. Intrigue on Oobleck's face, curiosity and bafflement on Ozpin and Port's and visible confusion for Goodwitch.

"But how-"

"And we learned that Nep is not allowed near balls anymore."

"Sun, that was the other me! Didn't you pay attention?"

"Doesn't change the fact that you gave Port an indent in the skull with a soccer ball."

Now Port was surprised. "What? Ridiculous! Such a flimsy little thing cannot bbreach my manly countenance!"

"We all saw it though," Ruby interjected somewhat bashfully, ignoring a mischievous Yang creeping towards the monitor with a mission, silently cheered on by Yats who really wanted to see that particular movie.

Yang as well 'cause woo, fighting!

"And you say that Mr Arc has managed to destroy Vale by..." Glynda could not finish the sentence; it was just too absurd.

"As odd as it sounds," Velvet chimed in. "But the multiverse thing is the only explanation as it featured all of us with none of us having a memory of recording these."

"Plus, there is too many of them for it to be a coinkydink!" Yang piped up just as she inserted the DVD. "Now sit down, everyone! Next one is starting!"

"Hey!" Nora yelled out. "How dare you make that decision on the fly like that!"

"So did you Nora," Ren noted. "It was only fair." The ginger conceded the point.

The teachers made their way to the seating area. "This is still so outlandish, Ozpin," she whispered to the headmaster, who replied: "There are phenomena in this world that cannot be explained with science, Glynda. Let us enjoy this experience. We do not have any real work today, aynway."

"We have loads of paperwork."

"Are you making the tax returns ahead of schedule again?"

"That was one time!"

"Hush, please," Pyrrha shushed everyone. "It's starting."

**At the top of the stairs outside the Hall of Warriors, a beautiful building lined with brilliant Jade, Glynda Goodwitch, a Red Panda faunus, looked upon the valley, awaiting her fate.**  
"Ooh, you are a faunus in this one, Professor Goodwitch!" Nora chimed. "That confirms the multiverse theory," stated Oobleck. "Fascinating, truly fascinating!" "And look at the palace she stands in front of!" Coco yelled out. "All that Jade! It goes really well with the Mistrali aesthetic." Yatsu and Ren silently appreciated the masonry of the palace.  
**In the valley below, the lights from the evacuation made their way out of the valley. In a blink of Glynda's eyes, Adam Taurus, a snow leopard faunus, appeared before her.**  
"Adam," Blake gasped. "You know him?" Yang asked. "He was my mentor and...friend." "Sure, 'friend'." "Yang, we had a falling out!" hissed the ninja. "Right, not funny. Sorry." "It seems the villagers are fleeing because of him," Ozpin pointed out. "This raises cause for concern." "Why is he a leopard faunus though? He is a bull faunus," Blake explained before clamping her mouth shut. Had she said too much?

**Adam slightly bowed before her. "I have come home... Master." **

"Master?!"

Ren spoke up. "It seems as Miss Goodwitch was the one to instruct him in the martial arts. Such a gesture and address are reserved for such a relationship."

Glynda blinked at the explanation but nodded. "So I seem to be a close-quarters fighter here."

"Could this potentially mean that there are no semblances and aura here?" Oobleck was spitballing.

"How did you come up with that, Barty?" Peter inquired.

"The multiverse," the doctor replied, as if the word alone was enough of an answer. Then he iterated: "Anything is possible within the multiverse. Evil versions of us..."

"Talking Grimm," Coco threw in.

"Odd marriages?" Velvet supplied.

"Like what?" That had caught Ruby's attention.

"Shush!" Yang wanted to watch.

"**This is no longer your home. And I am no longer your master," she returned with a harsh tone.**

"Wait what?" Yang, Weiss, Ruby and Velvet asked out loud.

"She ousted him," Yatsu explained now. "He did something that was intolerable and Miss Goodwitch abandoned him as a master."

Glynda looked on in mounting curiosity and worry, wanting to know about that event.

**Adam gave her a cruel grin. "Yes. You have a new favorite. So where is this... Jaune?" He chuckled. "Did I scare him off?"**

"Vomit Boy being Miss Goodwitch's favorite?" Yang questioned in disbelief. "Yeah right, pull the other one."

The teacher was having none of that. "And what do you mean by that, Miss Xiao Long?"

"Don't get us wrong," Pyrrha replied instead. "But it seems at times that you have it out for him."

The woman looked genuinely surprised, offended even. "I...what? Do you think so?"

Several nods were her reply. Glynda sighed.

"Mister Arc may not be my best student, but he is among my favorites," she declared, blindsiding the students. "Out of everyone, he is the only one who truly listens to my advice at every lecture. He has the most drive to learn, to _truly_ learn." '_Perhaps because of his transcripts,_' she left unsaid.

"**This ****battle**** is between you and me."****Her face was the usual stern visage, ****yet with a hint of resignation.**

"**So..." The cruel leopard paused to turn his back to her. "That is how it's going to be?"**

"**That is how it _must_ be." She put herself in a kung fu position; one leg behind her and the staff ready.**

The atmosphere in the theater was tense. No one dared to speak during the teacher and the student facing off one last time.

**Adam looked back at her... and then attacked. The two battled, punch for punch, attack against defense. Adam punched Glynda clean through the doors of the Jade Palace. She recovered herself quickly and faced her former student. Adam entered, his face a mask of pure fury.** **A faint memory briefly flashed before her eyes. One of a baby snow leopard, abandoned before the gates.**

The watchers were shocked. "What was that?" Sun wanted to know, as did Glynda herself.

**Adam roared: "I rotted in jail for twenty years because of _your_ weakness!"**

"Twenty?!"

"**Obeying your master is not weakness!" She remembered now the moment when she discovered his vast talent for martial arts.**

"**You knew I was the Dragon Warrior! You _always_ knew..."**

**The scene dissolves to a Flashback. In the Hall of Warriors, Glynda presents Adam to Master Ozpin, the wise and immeasurably old tortoise faunus, the pride evident on both their faces Both a slightly younger student and master look expectant. Ozpin gives Glynda a look. She is dismayed now, suddenly realizing her master's decision.**

"It fits that Ozpin is a Tortoise," giggled Ruby. "He is wise and also kinda old."

"Thanks," the headmaster replied sardonically, even if such comments had stopped bothering him long ago.

"**But, when _O__zpin _said otherwise, what did you do? What did you do?!"**

**She is at a loss for words, trying to console her son, but...**

"**_NOTHING!" _Adam was the very picture of furious.**

"You adopted him as your own," Yang finally realized.

"You raised him," Blake continued. "Trained him. Filled him with pride."

"A grave mistake," noted Ren grimly.

"**You were not meant to be the Dragon Warrior!" Glynda shouted back, attempting to save what was left of the child she once adopted as her own. "That was not my fault!" **

"**NOT YOUR FAULT?!" the pretender roared as he pointed at her. Enraged, Adam knocks over the kung fu artifacts and throws them at Glynda.**

"**WHO FILLED MY HEAD WITH DREAMS?! WHO DROVE ME TO TRAIN UNTIL MY BONES CRACKED?! WHO DENIED ME MY _DESTINY_?!"**

"Entitlement," grumbled Coco. "The bane of the talented. If you get your achievements handed on a silver platter then you tend to feel entitled to things."

"Astutely observed, Miss Adel," Port praised. "It is the reason why we at the academies prefer to weed this particular fault out within our students."

"And yet you don't do shit against the racism," Coco snarked under her breath.

Weiss felt hit by these words. She had not been the most pleasant of people when she had first started at Beacon Academy. Could she have become such a monster if Port and her own team hadn't set her straight?

**The old master dodged each attack. Her opponent kicked a sword at him, and the woman countered it with a deft motion, balancing the blade, and redirected it into the floor.**

"**It was never my decision to make!"**

**Adam growled and leaped for the next artifact. He paused as recognized Ozpin's staff. Realizing what this means, he picked it up and faced her.**

"**It is now," Adam said with a smirk.**

"Oh, so I'm dead," the headmaster observed with the same casual demeanor as if he was talking about the weather, bewildering everyone else.

**Angered, the master finally went on the offensive against her student. They fight fierce and relentlessly, but Glynda was losing ground. Adam pinned her down with the staff by the throat.**

"**Give... me... the scroll!" he snarled.**

**His opponent did not give and gasped out: "I would rather _die!"_**

"What scroll are they talking about?" Ruby asked with intrigue.

"Perhaps it contains a kickass technique!" Yang cheered.

**They struggled for a beat until finally, the staff snaps in half. Glynda looked back at the pieces, a shocked expression on her face and a flutter of peach tree petals fly by. Caught off guard, she ends up being kicked by Adam into the wall. She recovered mid-air, however, and leaped from column to column, pursued by her student turned mortal enemy. The Red Panda faunus eventually jumped to the rafters and Adam follows and sent them both crashing through the roof. Lightning flashes.**

The watchers were breathlessly watching the action; every move captivated them. Yang and Ruby got excited enough to start imitating the movements.

**Grappling in mid-air, Glynda briefly got the upper hand before the snow leopard gets his paws around her throat as they crash back through the roof and separate with a fierce kick. Glynda crashes into a column, falls to the floor and lands hard breathing in a daze. Adam bounced off the wall, knocking a lantern to the floor. Blue flames erupted everywhere on the floor. The young master's arms were aflame as he charged at Glynda with a roar. She struggles to block his punches.**

"Oh shit, dodge!" yelled Sun, completely in the moment.

"She's trying, look!" Nora screamed in response.

"Children, please!" Glynda, ironically, shouted for silence.

"**_All I ever did," _he screamed_ "I did to make you proud! Tell me how proud you are, __Glynda__! Tell me!" _Glynda seemed more and more heartbroken with every punch. "_TELL ME!"_ His final bellow sounded as if he was close to tears.**

A cold hand seemed to grab Pyrrha. She knew of her partner's desire to make his parents proud; to be a hero for their sake as well. What could have become of him if…

If he had been rejected like this?

By her, on the rooftop, when he had confessed to the forgeries?

She did not dare imagine it.

**THOOM! A fiery punch sent his former master skidding across the floor and crashing against the reflecting pool. The flames were extinguished by Adam with a mere gesture and he began stalking forward. Glynda weakly lifted herself slightly.**

"**I..." she began, weakened. "I have _always _been proud of you. From the first moment, I've been... proud of you."**

**This stopped Adam in his tracks and he starts to listen. **

"**And it was my pride... that blinded me. I loved you too much to see what you were becoming. What _I_... was turning you into... I'm... I'm sorry."**

"This is so intense," gasped Velvet, who was on the edge of biting her nails off. Coco did not want to show it, but the tension got to her.

**Adam hesitated as Glynda waited for his answer. After a long moment... Adam's expression goes cold. He has made his decision for good and grabbed his enemy by the throat.**

"**I don't want your _apology_..." he snarled. "I want my _scroll_!" **

"He made his decision," Ozpin observed, resignation in his voice. "For better or for worse."

"Hey, did anyone notice how the movie stops when we start discussing?"

On Nora pointing it out, everyone did, indeed, note that the movie had halted while they talked. With silence reigning once more, it resumed.

**He lifted her up to the ceiling. That was when the pretender saw the socket where the dragon scroll rested; within the fangs of a mighty dragon fashioned of Jade. There was no scroll.**

**Adam was furious. "What? WHERE IS IT?!"**

**He slammed Glynda to the floor with enough force to crack the stone. With a strangled voice, she spoke up once more.**

"**Dragon Warrior has taken scroll halfway across Mistral by... now." She coughed, seeing her will never see that _scroll_, Adam." He tightened his grip and brandished his claws "Never! _N-never_..." **

Glynda mentally prepared herself to see her own self die.

"Come on, anyone!" yelled Neptune. "Save her!"

"Please," begged Velvet, not wanting to be witness to her teacher's death.

**As Glynda began to pass out, Adam snarled, ready to kill. Suddenly...**

"**Hey!"**

"YES!" Sun cheered.

"Heh, Vomit Boy is here to save the day." Yang smiled though, happy with the timely intervention of the white knight-

Oh my Oum, how did she not notice that before?!

**Adam turns to find a blonde and somewhat lanky, if muscular, human standing in the doorway, gasping for breath.**

"**_Huff_... _huff_... _huff_... Stairs... _huff_..." **

"Stairs?" Weiss was unimpressed. "That has him winded?"

"**_Who _are _you_?" Adam was more than confused.**

"**Buddy..." The human gasped "I... am the Dragon Warrior! _Huhhh_..." **

"The wielder of mythical power, ladies and gents," snarked Yang, earning her an indignant squawk from Ruby in defense of her male bestie and maybe-probably-could be crush and glares from Pyrrha, Nora and Velvet.

"You'll see, infidel!" declared the consumer of pancakes. "Fearless Leader will save the day!"

**Adam masked his indignation with amusement. "_You_?!" He turned to Glynda. "_Him_?!He's a human." he turns back to Jaune. "You're a human. What are you gonna do, noodle guy? _S__trangle__ me_?"**

Yang giggled, as did Weiss and Coco.

Oobleck's brow furrowed. "Why is Mr Arc a human?"

"**Don't tempt me." Jaune laughed, going with it. "No. I'm gonna use _this_!" This was the mythical dragon scroll, gold sealed with Jade.**

"**You want it?" Jaune challenged. "Come and get it."**

**From out of nowhere, Adam punches the human across the room, grabbing the scroll knocked from his hands.**

**Adam raised the scroll high. "Finally..."**

"Nice while it lasted." Yeah, Yang didn't really have faith in his combat prowess.

**Jaune's backside collided with a nearby pillar and he slammed back into the madman, sending him flying into a column. **

"You were saying?" Pyrrha asked with a rare smug grin on her face.

"How did he do that?" Yatsuhashi wanted to know.

**Astonished and surprised that he had actually landed a blow, Jaune put on a brave face and strikes a pose, making kung fu noises. Enraged, Adam charged back to Jaune on all fours, fury in his every motion.**

**For added effect the motion seemed to slow down and it affected Jaune's scared expression "Oh... WOW!"**

"Run!" Velvet screamed.

"This foe is beyond him," Glynda stated. "It is for the best to retreat."

"But if he runs away, no one can stop that guy!" Nora protested.

**Adam quickly caught up and they both sailed off the palace steps. Jaune clung to the scroll as Adam delivered a punch and sent him crashing onto the arena rooftops below and inexplicably bouncing off into a tree. The snow leopard roared and pounced; the human rolled down off a tree, dragging and holding it down and used the recoil to whip back and smash Adam in the face. He briefly skid across the rooftop and came right back at Jaune. He gets knocked down the long, the _very long_ flight of stairs, and chased after him.**

Weiss paled, as did many students.

"I take back what I said before."

"**That scroll is mine!" Adam reiterated.**

**Down the stairs, ****Jaune and Adam grapple for the scroll****. ****Jaune**** is oblivious to the effects of crashing down stairs ****due to a freakish pain tolerance and natural durability**** and in slow motion, his voluminous ****and almost ille****g****al****ly**** THICC**** butt presse****d**** down on ****Adam's**** head, ****leaving him with a confused expression****. **

There were a few nosebleeds in the theater. Blake started scribbling in her book as she fought back the blood.

'_Oh my yes,_' both Pyrrha and Velvet thought.

"What did I just see?" Glynda demanded to know.

Port of all people answered. "That was Triple-S-Grade Man Booty, Glynda. One of a kind."

**As they crash****ed**** through the gateway to the village the scroll is knocked loose. ****Jaune**** sep****a****rate****d**** from ****Adam**** and crashe****d**** into a noodle cart. T****he pretender**** goes for the scroll but ****the dragon warrior**** snatche****d**** it away using a noodle lasso. **

"Mister Arc shows an odd ingenuity in terms of tactics and strategy, no?" Ozpin observed.

"I wonder how he will fare in the Vytal festival," Glynda mused out loud.

**The scroll fl****ew**** towards him and bounce****d**** off his head. ** **Adam immediately ****leap****ed**** for it, but ****Jaune**** grab****bed**** his tail, ****knowing it was a dick move,**** and pull****ed**** him back down onto a cart which see-saws ****Jaune high**** into the air. In mid-air, ****he ****slurps the noodle ****up****. **

"I've heard of a drive-in, but not a fly-in," punned Yang, earning obligatory groans from everyone.

"Isn't it bad to just grab someone's tail like that?" Ruby wanted to know.

"Life-or-Death situation." Sun sounded oddly clipped, too wound up by what he saw. "All is fair."

**Up and over the rooftops, the noodle boy landed in a grove of bamboo trees and into a nearby wok shop, scattering the large belly-like pans. The scroll lands inside a lantern, tumbles out and rolls to a stop in the street. As Adam makes his move on the scroll, desperate for the power within, Jaune sent a wok into his face, making a face-shaped indent.**

The students hollered and laughed, cheering for their teammate and friend. Ozpin smiled at the sense of cameraderie.

**The array of overturned woks turned into a shell game, the woks sliding around at top speed to hide the scroll.**

"**Lightning!" Jaune cheered and taunted at the same time.**

"Nope," Coco counted herself out.

"Now I'm dizzy," Ruby complained.

**With a growl, Adam knocked the woks away and exposed the scroll.**

"He has cut the knot," Yatsuhashi rumbled. "A good reaction to such a tactic."

"Yes, but Jaune is still in danger," Velvet pointed out.

**Now Jaune was panicking. He used his bamboo stilts to block his opponent as he tried to grab the scroll. The leopard swiped out the stilts and grabbed the scroll, apparently forgetting how gravity works. With predictable results, the scroll was knocked out his paws and rolled down the street.**

"Ha!" laughed Sun, loving the sudden slapstick.

**Jaune got thrown into a fireworks booth as the pretender chased down the scroll. The noodle had the best idea.**

"**AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHAHAHA!"**

**He set the fireworks off and comes speeding up on the cart, propelled by a motherlode of them. **

"Go go, Fearless Leader!"

"Is Jaune gonna be safe?"

"Not as safe as that Adam guy when that cart hits!"

**He slammed through Adam, launching him upwards and grabbed the scroll... and crashed into a rock wall. **

"Damn," mumbled Yatsu. "So close."

"Can't help but cheer him on, huh, big guy?"

**The scroll flew out of his hand and landed in the mouth of an ornamental rooftop dragon. Panicking, he looks back at Adam, who saw where the scroll landed and restarted his pursuit. Via the magic of cookie- vision (He envisions the scroll as a cookie), Jaune effortlessly scaled the building. His opponent was shocked by the acrobatic prowess.**

Ruby preened. "The best kind of motivation! Well done, Jaune!"

Her team rolled her eyes at her, but acknowledged Jaune's sudden burst of acrobatics, all propelled by a cookie.

"**The scroll has given him power!" He bellowed. "NOOOOOOOO!" **

**Enraged, he took a giant leap and kicked the wall of the building, causing it to crumble. **

Coco balked. "That's some serious power."

"Indeed." Now Ren was officially worried for his leader.

**Jaune struggled to reach the scroll as he is chased by Adam Taurus, though managed to keep the leopard at bay by kicking dozens of roof tiles into his face at the speed of a machine gun. Amazingly, the noodle boy skipped across the falling roof tiles to reach the scroll in mid-air and grabbed it…**

"Is that even possible?" Now Ruby wanted to know.

Oobleck thought it over, then came to his conclusion: "If the counteracting power is exactly equivalent to the power that elevated these tiles in the first place, then yes."

Nora's eyes were shining. "Awesome."

**Just as Adam leaped up behind him and unleashed a punishing blow with an overhead ax kick that sent the human smashing into the ground outside Mr Xiao Long's noodle shop. As Adam landed, he delivered a final devastating punch, sending up a huge mushroom cloud. **

"No!" Pyrrha screamed.

"No no no get up!" Ruby was close to tears.

"He's fine, he's fine." Yang sounded as if she tried to convince herself as well.

**As the dust settled, Adam Taurus is looming over a stunned Jaune in the impact crater, feeling his victory close. He picked up the scroll, relishing at having the secret to limitless power in his grasp at last.**

"**Finally... oh yes..." he gasped. "The power of the Dragon Scroll... is... MINE!" **

"Shit!" Sun cursed.

"All for nothing," the deputy sighed. '_Even my close brush with death…_'

**He opened the scroll... and his triumph turns to horror as he tried to close and open the scroll again.**

The watchers were befuddled. "What is he doing?" Weiss wanted to know.

Velvet realized...and giggled. "I-i think he tries to turn it off and on again." That made the others laugh or at least chuckle as they all realized the same thing.

"**It's NOTHING!" Adam was despairing as he gazed upon his gold-tinted reflection. Before him, Jaune slowly got to his feet, wincing.**

"What, that's it?" Yang found herself disappointed.

"**It's okay. I didn't get it the first time either." **

**Adam was disbelieving "What?" **

**Jaune's voice was soothing, comforting, trying to quell the flames of rage within the faunus. "There is no secret ingredient." **

Ren's eyes lit up in understanding. "I see."

"See what, Renny?"

"The secret of the scroll."

**Adam tossed down the scroll in anger. Jaune looked down at the scroll and gazed at his reflection.**

"**It's just you." He smiled at himself.**

These words resonated within all the students, but none more so than Yang Xiao Long, who had an epiphany.

She had been close, far too close to become the same as the raving lunatic on screen right now. She was prideful, yes. Being the best at Signal would do that to you, as well as being one of the best among the first years at Beacon. But how close was she to being condescending?

Had she been a demeaning jerk to anyone? Out of her pride and her sense of strength? Had she…

Yes, she had.

'_Damn it,_' she thought. '_I'm a shit friend, aren't I, Vomit Boy?_'

**Adam looks at the scroll... then snarled and lunged at Jaune.**

"**RRRAAAH!" **

"**AAAAGGGHH!" **

**A strike to the nerve points in a last effort borne out of frustration. **

"No!" Ren gasped out.

"What? What is it, Renny?" Nora asked in worry. Her partner was not usually this vocal. "What did he do?"

"His..." the green ninja collected himself. "His nerve points have been hit. His motor functions have been shut down. He is helpless now!"

Everyone looked back at the screen with bated breath. The hope that the blonde knight would find a way out of this would die last.

Ozpin clenched his cane.

**Jaune collapsed to the ground... and begins giggling. Adam looks down at his clawed hand in confusion and strikes his adversary again. And again... and again... Jaune seems to be merely tickled by this attack.**

"**Stop! Stop it! I'm gonna pee! Don't! Don't!" **

Everyone blinked. "Uh, what is going on?" Blake asked the question everyone was thinking.

"It has been theorized," Ren spoke up once more, relieved this time. "But the nerve pressure technique is not entirely perfect, as some individuals seem to have misplaced pressure points."

"Meaning that Jaune still has a chance," jubilated Ruby. "Come on!"

"Fight on!" Velvet was really feeling it now.

**In his frustration, the pretender delivered a fierce haymaker punch to the blonde's face. Jaune sees the attack and moves along with it, the fist barely grazing him. He lets the motion carry him, spins around with a leg raising. It results with a brutal roundhouse kick to Adam's chest, who rockets into the building behind him. Jaune looks on in amazement as his expression solidified, having come up with a game plan.**

Yang was barely contained in her seat. "Did you see that?!"

"Incredible," Ren whispered.

"Wonderful," Port boomed. "He used the momentum to mitigate the damage of the attack and counter at the same time! What technique!"

Pyrrha, amazed at this turn of events, wondered if Jaune could be taught the same technique. Perhaps she should consult Miss Goodwitch on that one.

**Adam rose from the rubble and ran at the insolent human again. But Jaune striked back, rolling with every attack and countering with equal or greater force, eventually grabbing the tail again. **

"Still not cool," yelled Sun. "But it doesn't matter! Lay his ass out, bro!"

**Adam got played with and as he made to bite him, lost in rage, Jaune merely parried with the man's own tail. A pathetic mew later, Adam roared in pain. **

The three faunus and those who knew them cringed at what had transpired.

"I could feel that," Velvet whimpered.

"Tell me about it," replied Sun. "It's like being bit in the dick."

Everyone turned towards him with a shocked and horrified look? "What?" The monkey prince was dumbfounded at the attention. "It's about the same degree of pain!"

Weiss shivered at the mere thought of that amount of pain.

**Jaune then gave Adam a butt bump that sent him crashing into a building, complete with him blubbering, rubbering and grimacing across the pavement. **

Nora giggled at the undignified blundering. "I want to hit someone like that!" She then realized the context and quickly amended: "But with Magnhild!"

A little too late. Yang was cackling.

'_God I wish that were me_,' the fashionista thought to herself with a grin.

**Adam emerged and now really mad, attempted one more lunge at the dragon warrior. But Jaune prepared, clenches his ass…**

"Nice ass," Coco commented, appreciating a male form from time to time.

"Uh huh." Velvet's nose was bleeding again at the close-up.

**and the pretender is swiftly met by Jaune's IRON BUTTOCKS! He is launched into the air and disappeared into the clouds. **

"He went flying!" Nora was laughing hysterically.

"Good show!" Port was loving every second of it.

"I caught you staring at your student's ass," Ozpin whispered to Glynda for shits and giggles. "For shame."

Glynda became red in the face. "How could I not? It was right..."

"So you admit it." Ozpin lured her into a trap, grinning at her.

The deputy did the smart thing and shut up, preventing herself fro digging even deeper.

**Jaune stood and waited... and waited... until finally, his opponent reappeared in the sky. Jaune stepped back to let him crash into the ground. ** **Adam had to climb out the leopard shaped hole, battered, but still defiant. He staggered toward Jaune.**

"His tail left an imprint," Ruby called out. "Just like in a cartoon!" She giggled a little.

"That was one fierce impact," noted the giant swordsman of Team CFVY.

"**You..." he gasped. "Can't defeat me... you... you're just a blonde...scrawny," -at that Jaune gave him a look. "HUMAN!" **

**Adam lunged at him one last time... ** **SCHWING! ** **Jaune grabbed his finger and Adam's eyes go wide.**

"Ooh, is it time for the finisher?!" Nora was bouncing up and down in her seat.

"Finish him," Yang growled out in a surprisingly deep voice.

"**I'm not a blonde, scrawny human... I'm THE blonde, scrawny human!" **

**The pinky popped up. The dead man gasped in fear.**

"**The Wuxi Finger Hold!" **

"The what?" Weiss was nonplussed.

Ozpin chuckled. "One would do well not to underestimate named techniques." Truthfully, he had no idea what a finger hold would do, though if it had to do with pressure points…

"**Oh, you know this hold?" Jaune was goading him a little.**

"**You're bluffing... _you're bluffing_!" Adam sounded desperate and panicky. "Glynda didn't teach you that!" **

"**Nope." He looked hopeful for a bit. **

Weiss deadpanned. "Why would he admit to bluffing?"

"**I figured it out." **

**Adam's eyes widened one last time.**

"**_Skadoosh!"_ And the pinky fell.**

Nora and Ruby giggled at the silly sound.

"Heh, cute," Coco noted, smiling a little.

"Why was he so afraid of this hold?" Blake wanted to know.

**An explosion of golden, rippling energy flows through the Valley of Peace, sweeping past the fleeing villagers. Astonished, they look toward the village in the distance. **

Everyone in the theater was shocked.

"That's why," Ozpin supplied a bit needlessly.

"Did he explode?!" Nora asked, vibrating in her seat. "Did Jaune-Jaune make him explode?"

**The narration pipes up. "Adam Taurus was beaten, destroyed with the legendary Wuxi Finger Hold, his own life energy used against him. Peace returned to the Valley, brought by the dragon warrior, Jaune Arc, last of the Human Tribe."**

"He did explode," Yatsu noted, shocked.

"I have never heard of such a technique," Ren added. "Though I suppose it is for the best, considering the effects."

"What was that last bit?" Pyrrha asked, worried. "Last of the Human Tribe?"

"It seems that this Mr Arc was a human in a faunus world," noted Ozpin.

"Fascinating!" Oobleck was positively brimming with excitement. "We must watch more, learn more!"

"Hey, if that nets us extra credit in class, I'm down," Yang commented, making Weiss glare at her.

"We should discuss what to watch next, then," Pyrrha commented. She herself would like to see this Dating show thing she picked up from the shelf.

Before the discussion could start, the sound of many doors opening caught their attention.

"Wait, what?" Someone sounded nonplussed. "This isn't the kitchen."


	3. Chapter 3

**Hello, hello!**

**I have been given permission to do this!**

**I sincerely hope Azure finds this enjoyable (and maybe gets motivated to continue the series earlier because god dammit I enjoy that fanfic far too much). I hope all of you do, too!**

**I deliberately wrote it in this style to perhaps coerce you all to read the fic itself for more context.**

**This won't be the first time this happens, mind you!**

**Also seeing as Jellal chose wangst over woman, I vote for Erza to return to the gameshow!**

**Why yes, it _is_ a trip. So go read it!**

**Also, I am so glad I found out how to copy/paste the text. Transcribing the whole thing by hand would have been a chore to deal with.**

**Disclaimer: RWBY is property of Rooster Teeth and Monty Oum. 'The Game show of Jaune Arc's dating life' is written by Azure megacyber.**

The strange library

chapter 3: A dating show?

Owlishly blinking, a tall and tan blonde man peered through a door that seemed to have appeared on the wall. Next to him was a slightly swaying and rather pale man with black hair and strikingly red eyes.

"Dad? Uncle Qrow?" Ruby was confused as to how these two had found their way here, but moreover happy that she got to see her uncle and father again.

"Wha- Ruby?! Yang?!" the blonde exclaimed, equally confused but happy.

"This isn't the kitchen," the pale man drawled. "Oh hey, girls." He smiled a little. Said smile disappeared as Ruby crashed into him, catching him in a hug. "Oof!"

"Dad!" Yang ran to her father and uncle, surprised at this development.

"Now come here, my sunny dragon!" Taiyang Xiao Long caught his brawling daughter in a hug, making her attempt to wriggle free as Qrow Branwen had already freed himself of his eager niece, who made to hug her dad now.

"Qrow, Taiyang, this is," Ozpin was trying to find his words. "Rather unexpected.

"Most fascinating!" Oobleck exclaimed. "It seems that this room is connected to more than one doorway via a technology beyond our current understanding!"

"About that," the dusty old crow interjected, "What is this room?"

"More to the point, who are you?" Weiss had wanted clarification. She had heard the exclamations, but struggled to see the family resemblance between the blonde man and Ruby.

Said man let go of his eldest daughter and smiled his best smile. "Taiyang Xiao Long. I am Ruby's and Yang's dad. In case you are wondering, Ruby takes more after her mom."

The other man burped. "Qrow Branwen. The uncle." He turned around to the headmaster and deputy. "Hey Oz, Glyn. What's crackin'?"

"Some minds, it seems," was Ozpin's enigmatic answer. Glynda did not dignify his address with a response other than a stern glare.

"Yo Peter, Bart. How you guys holding up?"

"Famously, my friend!" the ever so jolly Port replied. "You see-"

"Oh my! This is not the library, Ghira!"

Blake stiffened. She hadn't heard that voice in a lot of time now. She suddenly started to panic. What would they think? Was there time to run? Could-

"Oh, if it isn't Taiyang and Qrow!"

What.

Yang blinked. Something about the woman seemed familiar. Black hair, amber eyes, gentle features and kitty ears. She looked like a happier Blake-

Oh damn.

"Heh, hey Kali. Ghira. It's been a while."

Behind the woman emerged a large man with an impressive beard; his clothing showcasing lots of chesthair. Also, kitty ears and the same eye color.

"Hm. It _has_ been a long time. How come you don't visit or call?"

Tai winced. "Patch doesn't have a CCT, I'm swamped with teaching and-"

"Blake?" The woman had spotted a faunus in disguise who really seemed to want to be anywhere else but here.

Tai had muttered something about "being saved" under his breath as the two faunus had shifted their attention to Blake. She herself was on the verge of a breakdown-

They ran over to hug her.

Blake seemed a little lost. "Mom? Dad?" she whispered. "Aren't you mad at me?" She started to choke up.

"We were worried," Ghira answered, his voice deep but soothing. "We were so worried for you, kitten."

"Your parents are faunus?" Nora asked. The she gasped. "Does that mean that you have the same cute kitty ears?" The pink bomber was positively sparkling.

Blake was slightly taken aback while her mother was smiling at the exuberant girl. Her daughter seemed to have expected scorn or anything resembling that emotion. Kali simply made the decision for her daughter, as the proverbial cat was out of the bag already, and took the ribbon off.

Blake's ears twitched in surprise as Nora squealed. "Mom!"

"Oh shush, Blake. Your teammates deserve to know at least."

"Would you mind introducing us?" her father requested, gazing over the various students, as he caught sight of yet more arrivals.

"John!" he roared in sudden delight. "It has been too long, my friend!"

Everyone looked over as Tai and Qrow stiffened. Another opened door leading back to a nicely furbished living room revealed two tall blonde people. The man, towering at six foot seven and sporting a nicely trimmed beard whipped towards Ghira. His smile widened. "Ghira!"

As the two men approached each other, the blonde woman, standing at six foot one with shoulder-length blonde hair took one look at Kali. Then the screaming began.

"Kali!"

"Tori!"

The two women ran towards each other and met in a fierce hug as they squealed and turned while jumping about. Next to them their husbands met in a strong bro hug.

"Is anyone else as lost as me?" Ruby asked sheepishly. Her teammates just dumbly nodded.

Coco took the time to appreciate the clothing the new arrivals wore, as she did usually. Tai, Yang's father, wore a yellow short-sleeved shirt with a brown vest along with simple but practical pants. Qrow had been in some nice-looking white suit with a gray undershirt and a red cape. Coco immediately saw where Ruby got the idea for hers from.

Ghira and Kali wore rather light clothing themselves. The large man accentuated his carpet of virility with a deep cut in the front of his shirt, whereas his wife seemed a little more conservative with her gray and black, while nicely cut, dress.

Lastly the blondes that seemed awfully familiar. The man, John, was wearing a blue shirt with homely jeans. He obviously was not intending to go out today. His wife, Tori, wore a nice burgundy blouse with her own pair of jeans.

"You're doing it again, aren't you?"

Coco blinked. "Dunno what you're talking about, Fox." Her teammate barely talked, which is why it was always a surprise whenever he did.

"Is it just me," Velvet spoke up with intrigue in her voice. "Or does that man look like Jaune?"

Said man turned to her and smiled a rather familiar smile. "Ah, so you know my son! How is he?"

The very second he said 'son', three girls reacted all at once and raced in front of him. Ruby, thanks to her semblance, was first.

"You're Jaune's dad?!"

"That I am!"

Kali and Tori stopped jumping about and ended their hug. "We should introduce ourselves then, no?" the blonde offered.

"Quite," the faunus giggled, then straightened. "Kali Belladonna. I am Blake's mother."

Her husband made to stand next to her. "Ghira Belladonna. Kali's father and Chieftain of Menagerie," he recited with sonorous voice.

"Johnathan Arc," the blonde boomed. "Jaune's father."

His wife seemed judging of the girls especially. "Arturia Arc. His mother." Her eyes narrowed a little. "I hope you have been nice to my son."

Nora chose to speak. "Jaune-Jaune is our fearless leader! He goes into danger even if he is a bit weak!"

Tori's eyes widened a little at that. "You are his teammate?"

"One of them, yes," Pyrrha spoke. "I am Pyrrha Nikos, your son's partner." She smiled, hoping to make a good impression.

"Nora!" Nora yelled as she stood beside the redhead, barely held back by her own partner.

"Lie Ren," he nodded to the parents in respect. "Your son is our team leader."

The mother hummed in acknowledgement. "And you?" she pointed with her chin towards the others.

Coco, Yatsu and Fox introduced themselves first as they were closest to the parents. Velvet struggled a little with a sudden bout of nervousness, yet managed to get out her name and her relationship with the blonde knight.

Then Team RWBY introduced themselves and Tori had something to say for all of them.

"Ruby Rose, the team leader."

"You look a lot like your mother." The little rose blinked but smiled bashfully, ignoring the sudden glare of the mother towards her relatives.

"Hey, Tori," the two men greeted sardonically.

"Hello." And with that, she turned back to the girls.

"Weiss Schnee."

"There is a reason why your family name is not that known in our part of the world," Arturia replied with no small amount of bite, making the young heiress wince, then light up in understanding.

"Blake-"

"Yes, yes," the woman waved off. "You should have called your parents, you know."

Kali took that as a cue to hug her daughter again.

"Yang Xiao Long! So you are the woman who mothered eight kids, including Vomit Boy?"

The cursed name was spoken and the mother of eight's expression darkened considerably. "_What_ did you call my Jaune?"

"Honey." A single word from Johnathan calmed Tori down, if only a little. "She is probably referencing his motion sickness."

Yang saw the safety line and took it. "Yes! The nickname was Ruby's idea."

"But I only use it sometimes when joking around!" the red reaper protested. "You use it all the time!"

"Erm, hi?"

Before Arturia could make to verbally maim the insolent blonde before her she turned to see a monkey faunus and some blue-haired boy.

"Sun Wukong," the faunus introduced himself. "This is Neptune. Say, is it true that you have eight kids?"

"Yes." The she smiled again. "Seven beautiful daughters and one wonderful son."

"Wow," was all that Neptune could say to that. "Um, kudos?"

Qrow now asked the real question. "Where are we?"

"An interdimensional movie theatre!" Nora explained loudly, earning confused looks.

Blake spoke up. "We have picked some movies from this shelf to watch on a whim. These seem to star some versions of us in alternate universes. Pyrrha has her pick ready, as she is next, and would like to watch it." She was eager to see what this 'game show' was.

"Did we agree on an order for this?" Neptune wondered.

"Best time for it." Blake just shrugged.

Pyrrha clutched the case and spoke to Tori. "It is a dating show starring your son as the main character."

"Why didn't you say so?!" The woman rocketed into a seat right in front of Miss Goodwitch as Kali just giggled and made to sit next to her. Then the two women turned around.

"Hello, Glyndie," the two drawled.

"Oh no." Glynda was wary of these two ever since her school days. She had always been dragged into whatever they had been cooking up as activity next. She still had the nightmares from the time they gave Bart Soda instead of coffee.

"Mom, how do you know each other?" Blake asked Kali.

"Why, we went to school together."

"You went to Beacon? Dad too?"

"Yup. Now hit it, young lady!" the faunus mother cheered in exuberance, making Ghira smile and John chuckle. Pyrrha approached the screen redfaced and inserted the disk before going back to her seat.

**The story so far!**

**Jaune has been abducted to take part in a dating show!**

**One which is broadcasted to scrolls back in Remnant!**

"Ooh, an announcer!" Nora pointed out.

"P-money, did you not grab the first episode?" Yang asked, eyebrow raised.

"Oh, sorry! This is apparently episode 5!"

"Judging by the style of the announcement," Ozpin pondered aloud. "The announcer will recap the entire series, so we don't need to stop here."

Not like anyone knew how to interrupt the viewing completely.

"**There he is! Where is this and why is he tied up?!" Pyrrha asked panicked and slightly aroused at the sight of him bound and helpless.**

Everyone looked at the spartan. Nora asked: "Why do you sound turned on?" To which Pyrrha just sunk into her seat.

"So we watch ourselves watching Jaune dating people?" Sun summarized. "Trippy."

**Several dates have already transpired!**

**First was V4 Ruby Rose!**

"Excuse me?!" Tai's protective streak flared up. As Arturia turned to him with a glare he defended himself. "Look, nothing against your boy, but this is my little Ruby! She's too young to be dating!"

Ruby just went red-faced as the others giggled a little. Kali had to calm her friend down a bit.

**The screen showed a Ruby with a different corset and slightly altered clothing altogether...which she began to fill out quite a bit. She was smiling her best smile. A subtitle appeared, reading [8 months in the future].**

"Whoa." Yang blinked. "You grew up in just those eight months, Rubes."

Tai was imitating a fish, disbelieving at the growth his daughter displayed.

Said daughter was vibrating in her seat, before bellowing a victory cry.

"MIIIILLLLK!" It paid off, it actually paid off! Ruby did a little happy dance as Yang started to laugh and Weiss had a crisis about her own growth, or lack of it.

**Then it transitioned to a lush forest where they had a heart to heart.**

"**You're such a dork, Jaune, but...that's what I always liked about you."**

"**If I'm a dork, then so are you, Crater Face." Jaune shot back jokingly, causing Ruby's cheeks to puff out.**

"DAAAWW!" Tori and Kali cooed, as did Nora. Ruby was now red in the face for a wholly different reason.

"'Always liked about you', huh?" Yang was ready to tease. "Got something to tell me, sis?" Inwardly, Yang was a bit conflicted. Her sister suddenly grew up so fast. And with Vomit Boy, no less! She wondered if he would be good enough for her sister as a boyfriend.

**Suddenly the screen transitioned again right to their deep loving kiss.**

Ruby managed to become even redder as Tai and Qrow cried in outrage. That was their little Ruby he was corrupting. Though a very sharp glare from Tori _and_ John shut them up.

"Do you really think we wouldn't raise our son right?" John less asked and more snarled, deeming their outrage an insult.

"**Aaaannnddd...the plausibility ratio says..." one armored man who seemed to be the host announced as the screen went back to after the date.**

"**Whooo that's a whopper!" Another armored man called out; the red to the other host's blue.**

"**89% plausibility on the first go! That is amazing."**

The audience was nonplussed. "Plausibility?"

Ozpin thought for a bit, then suggested: "Perhaps something along the lines of how likely Mr Arc's version of Miss Rose is to date him based on the date."

Velvet and Pyrrha felt a pang of jealousy. How come it was that high?!

**Next up was Barbara Dunkelman!**** The screen showed now a boisterous and flirty looking blonde adult woman. [RoosterTeeth 'verse Yang Xiao Long].**

**...And of course they had a pun-off.**

Now _that_ had Tai and Yang's full attention as the others groaned.

"**Why don't some couples go to the gym? Because some relationships don't work out." Barbara started.**

Yang giggled as Tai sniggered.

"**I wasn't originally going to get a brain transplant, but then I changed my mind." Jaune had shot back.**

"Ha, classic!

"**Did you hear from the guy whose whole left side was cut off? He's all right now."**

The laughter intensified.

**And surprisingly enough, Jaune won!**

"**Did you hear about the guy who got hit in the head with a can of soda? He was lucky it was a soft drink." Jaune fired.**

As everyone in the theatre couldn't help but giggle at the corny pun, Yang's laughter suddenly became suffused with heavy breaths. Ruby looked to her sister in worry. "Are you okay?"

The expression on the bruiser's face was worrying. She seemed feral, like she was about to seek and pounce a certain blonde.

"'m fine. I'm fine." She breathed more evenly now, but still had that look in her eyes.

**Everyone this time at the dorm started laughing, including one very distracted Barbara Dunkelman. She got so rattled with laughter that she fell down from her seat onto the floor until her face stretched into one of shock realizing that-**

"**Five seconds are up, I win." Jaune declared looking down from his seat with a wide grin. He then leaned down with her shot glass in hand offering it to her. "You've just been served."**

"OOOOOOOOO" Nora was imitating a crowd going nuts. "Damn!"

"Heh, like that's possible with our Jaune," Yang tried to convince herself. Frankly, she had no idea if that was possible. The two barely talked besides Yang making fun of him.

That realization hurt more than the blonde would have liked.

**The big screen back at the lobby of the show showed a 64% plausibility.**

**And then, one seriously mind-screwy date in a sense, Neptunia!**

Several jaws dropped.

**The screen showed a teenage woman slightly taller than Ruby, otherwise much like Neptune except with quite a pair of breasts and full pouty lips. [Neptune Vasilias R63].**

Sun had no words. Neither had Weiss.

**Neptune himself had some choice words about that.**

"**Hot damn I look crazy hot as a chick! Go get her, Jaune!" He pumped his right fist into the air.**

Now everyone looked to their Neptune. "Really?" Blake deadpanned.

"Why not?" Nep defended himself. "As far as I'm concerned, she is me, but also not. Kind of like a fraternal twin sister, really.

That comparison pacified the others mostly. Tori was having the time of her life.

And Weiss' crisis intensified. '_Even the other him has bigger boobs!_'

… **frankly I don't know what I expected here. Anyway! Jaune and FemNep went to the beach!**

No one expected the announcer's snark, making people giggle.

**The girl had hiked up her pants to her knees and removed her red bomber jacket revealing a white tank top...that was tight enough to fully show her bust and cleavage.**

**'**_**Must…not…stare!**_**'**

Sun gave a golf clap, Neptune was cheering for Neptunia to get her man.

Pyrrha and Velvet, meanwhile, devised new game plans.

Ruby was still a little rattled at the mere concept of a female Neptune. Was there a male version of her?!

**But the fight against her aquaphobia resulted in Jaune and a Grimm getting...acquainted.**

**A mollusk Grimm**** slither****ed**** its feelers around Jaune's cheeks affectionately**. **Jaune himself felt his body froze and turned into stone.** '_**A Grimm is coming to me. I have no idea how to process this.**_'

Port ceased to function. Everyone else erupted into laughter.

"The Grimm!" Sun wheezed. "The Grimm wants him!"

Blake suddenly had a very interesting idea. She pulled out her notebook and jotted down some ideas.

**Though all's well that ends well….in a sense.**

**"Need…resuscitation…give me…mouth to mouth…with a bit of tongue too…"** **He leaned down and carefully docked his open mouth with hers steadily breathing in air while unaware of her hands rising up quietly to interlock around his head. ! His eyes shot open in surprise when he felt her press down on his head deepening an open mouth kiss with her tongue bravely darting inside. '**_**She totally tricked me! I must've fallen for the oldest trick in the book now that I think about it.**_**'**

**A score of 51% ****was shown at last.**

That caught the interest of those with a crush on the blonde knight.

"Not the brightest bulb, is he?" Coco said right before she wanted to bite her tongue as Tori glared at her.

"Not dumb, but naive," John pointed out. "Those two are different things."

**T****heeen there was Agent Carolina!**

**A female clad head to toe in badass looking space armor similar to that of the hosts showed next. Her strange helmet came off and down came a flowing ponytail of blazing red hair. She was looking like Pyrrha, down to the eye color, but a little older and much more battle hardened. [Red vs Blue, ****Pyrrha Nikos****].**

"Ooh, space Pyrrha!" Nora chirped, making the champion smile. At least a version of her got to date him, even if she seemed...hard.

**And the two had a fierce training session with some cosmic cheating-err, I mean, super technological bracers that made Jaune better much faster!**

Now the envy kicked in. "I wanna do that too!" Ruby whined.

In the background Oobleck tried his best to wake Peter up.

**The screen showed scenes of their fighting: A hook from Carolina narrowly dodged by the blonde followed up by a sweeping kick at his head. ****Transitions came to show Jaune getting visibly better ****in the rather short duration of the date: From getting kicked in the side while holding her fists to utilizing Martial Arts moves he seemed to have picked up from Ren. Then the screen showed the two in a compromising position.**

_**Ton****g****!**_

**Her armored c****odpiece felt 'something' poking it and Carolina narrowed her eyes at a blushing Jaune. ****"You have an erection, don't you?"**

Coco could barely contain herself. "It made a sound!"

Kali laughed wholeheartedly, as did John and Tori. Ghira just chuckled.

Pyrrha was blushing profusely. '_Maybe I should do that during our next training session._'

**Despite that, or perhaps because, of that, Carolina got a 72% dating plausibility for Pyrrha Nikos back in Jaune's home reality!**

The champion cheered in silence.

**The roster thus consists now of a young Miss Glynda Goodwitch! [still student at Beacon]**

Port took that as a cue to wake up. "Whuh?"

Kali and Tori positively beamed at her. "Reeeeeally now?" the both of them drawled at the same time. John had turned around with a mischievous expression as well.

Glynda was lost. "I would..I would never..."

**Neopolitan! [****present day****]**

Yang squinted. "She seems familiar."

**V4 Weiss! [8 months in the future]**

Weiss reacted like she just took a punch to the gut. While they did take their rocky relationship to a fresh start after the dance, this was a bit too early for her.

Yang next to her was having a field day. This would give so much teasing ammo!

**and…**

**O****ut came another short girl, but one wearing a strange outfit consisting of a dark fur pelt that functioned as a cape, spiked pauldrons that decorated her shoulders, and a leather skirt coupled with a thick silver breast plate giving off the appearance of a warrior from the old world. She even wielded a two-handed hammer as tall as her over the right shoulder. It would've appeared regal and majestic had it not been for the familiar turquoise eyes and red hair with which her head adorned a winged circlet. All of it belonging to a manically grinning face that screamed; Chaos.**

**'**_**Oh no.**_**'**

**"I am the Nora the Valkyrie! I have come from Osgard to claim what is to be my future husband! And that is you!" She called out loudly in valor before pointing her left hand over at Jaune. "You will bed me and love me dearly so that I may bear fruit to many children who become warriors should I pass this trial! I intend to very much do so! Ha ha ha!" She pumped with lightning surging around her hammer and body definitely giving off the vibe of mythical warrior. ****[Nora the Valkyrie, Mythos Universe].**

The jaws dropped again. Ren turned to his oldest friend who seemed...ponderous.

"This version of me doesn't seem to have a Renny," she noted, right before she started grinning. "Go get that man meat, sister!"

Pyrrha did a spit take. '_Nora, I trusted you!_'

Ren was praying for his team leader.

**Welp, just glad that this show is rated T! Otherwise I would be worried about Jaune's pelvis.**

"You and me both," Ren agreed.

**Now onto the show!**

**The show was about to return from its break in which the screen simply showed an animation of Chibi-Jaune shaking his tiny booty back and forth in a little dance.**

"Daww, look at him dancing!" Pyrrha was gushing. Tori was thinking back to how cute he wa little tyke. Oh, she just _had _to show these girls the photo's, see how they react.

**The girls all gushed and laughed in delight, elsewhere Coco and Velvet did the same thing as they watched from their dorm. Scrolls clicked with notifications of 'download complete' showing up on each one of their screens after tweeting 'Delicious Shota' to the show's website.**

**"That's all of them. Every single photo of little Jauney-Jaune that we've seen so far is now on all our scrolls. Eeee! I can't get enough of them. I even saved the pics of his chibi cartoon self too, they're just so cute." Nora piped giddily raising her scroll in the air triumphantly. "Now I'm gonna start photo-shopping a sloth costume over that onesie of his in that special picture, he he." **

**The hands of all the girls bearing their own scrolls rose up with hers in a cheer.**

Nora was nonplussed. "'Delicious shota'?"

Blake's eyes widened. "Does that mean they got to see childhood photos of Jaune?"

Pyrrha gasped. "I wanna! I wanna see!"

Tori grinned, now rummaging for the photos she always held close to heart. She couldn't help it; her little boy was just too adorable!

**Ren simply held a flat look on his face in growing worry for his friend's reputation and masculinity.**

**'**_**And to think that I once had it bad like this, there had been many times already where I had to convince a clothing store clerk or anyone else really that I'm one hundred percent male.**_**' Ren thought calmly and turned his head around noticing Pyrrha glued to her scroll's screen again with half-lidded eyes and a drool mark escaping her mouth making her look a bit goofy.**

"I want to see the photos too," whined Ruby, stealing a glance at Jaune's mom in the hope she would get an idea.

Nora, meanwhile, stared at her partner with a manic grin, imagining him in girl clothes and younger. Ren could only shiver.

**Ruby had on a similar look and held Zwei in her lap as she flipped through the images with a chipper smile on her face, Yang grinned cheekily along with Nora as they panned through them, and lastly Weiss simply gushed at the cuteness of the oldest of them featuring infant Jaune peering up at the camera.**

"He's so cute!" Velvet was gushing as well as Weiss desperately held back from openly gushing about the blonde.

"Okay," Sun interjected into the general cooing. "Gotta admit, he was one adorable baby."

Kali was squealing in delight and demanded more photos from her friend in exchange from some of Blake's, much to her daughter's horror.

**Blake's ears were simply twitching with her mirroring Nora and Yang all while bearing a mild yet sweet smile of pleasantness.'Y**_**et that doesn't compare to what Jaune is dealing with now. If he doesn't impress everyone in this show then he might never live all this down, I almost certainly didn't after that fireworks festival back in Shione.**_**' **

"That was you?!" the mother of eight shouted. "Oh my Oum! I..." she tried to find the right words. "I apologize. I thought you were a girl."

Ren just shook his head and sighed. "No offense taken, Mrs Arc. I thought Jaune was a girl as well."

**Ren added feeling a small wave of dread creeping as he recalled that moment and the despairing knowledge that it too was photographed. '**_**All I can do is pray for Jaune and prepare myself to '**_**escape**_**' whenever that photo comes up**_**.'**

"Shooooow uuuuus." A certain hammer wielder and ninja fetishist wanted to see that damn photo now and found support in her other teammate.

Tori wass rummaging faster in her clothing and came up short. "They must be back home," she sighed.

"Then just hop back," Yang suggested, eager to see this. "The doors lead back as well. Everyone can leave whenever we want.

John simply stood up with a soft smile. "I will get some of these photos." Then his expression turned more stern. "I do refuse, however, to show the most embarrassing ones."

"That's quite alright with me, darling," Tori cooed at her husband. "Thank you!"

And with that, the PatriArc disappeared through the doorway, commenting about how the door indeed led back to their house.

**"Hmmm, I do think this could be a good starting point to for me pick up my dancing from." Neptune mused deep in thought as he studied Chibi-Jaune's dancing style so that he may incorporate it into his own.**

"Everybody's gotta start somewhere," Nep commented while trying to ignore a chuckle from Weiss.

**Sun sat above him on a large tree branch within the courtyard just as invested in the show as everyone else.**

**"Y'know I'm actually kinda pumped to see what a R63 version of myself would look like after seeing your counterpart. Girl Sun might be a super fun gal if she's anything like me, but I bet I can still rock the abs better than her." He mused to himself letting his tail tap his abdomen while receiving a fist bump from Neptune seated on the bench below.**

Sun pondered about that as Blake started to blush. "You know what, I do wanna see a girl me. Now I'm curious!"

That had the others ponder about their own genderflipped versions and how they would look like.

**Back to Jaune…**

**Bouncing giddily on his feet as though prepping for a boxing match Jaune was getting used to the feeling of being light on his feet after the sparring match with Agent Carolina.**

**The current four contestants consisting of Neo, Nora the Valkyrie, V4 Weiss, and young Glynda all looked on either at Jaune or the scoreboard each with their own thoughts on the whole thing.**

"Huh, good form," Tai observed.

**"Man I could really get used to these perks, can't wait to see how I'll do in Miss Goodwitch's combat class after all this." Jaune uttered to himself clearly stoked and sent several rapid-fire punches into the air in practice. '**_**How do you like me now, Cardin?**_**'**

Arturia's eyebrow rose. "Who is this Cardin? A rival?"

Just like that, a particularly vindictive part of Coco reared it's head. "He is a racist bully who verbally abuses your son and really likes to bat him around in the arena.

Everyone shot back into their seats as a very fierce and horrid aura radiated from the mother. "_IS THAT SO?_" Her voice seemed to have turned into a hellish caricature of itself.

"Please do not harm my students, Tori," pleaded Glynda. While the arrogance of the ginger got to her a bit, she had a responsibility as an educator still.

**'**_**He said 'Miss' Goodwitch…does that mean I don't marry by then?**_**' Young Glynda wondered with a hand on her chin in thought. '**_**My mother always said I'd be a spinster if I held too high of a standard.**_**'**

A collective wince went through the crowd as that was said. At this moment, John returned. "Let's have a look at these when this one is over, yeah?" he suggested, getting nods from everyone.

**From her side Neopolitan stuck out her tongue in a cute bratty way that resulted in Glynda absentmindedly flicking her wand from her side causing the petite enforcer to smack herself on the face with her left hand.**

"Ooh, catty," Kali commented, making her friend sigh in annoyance and Yang laugh. "i like your mom!" she told her partner, much to the latter's dismay.

**After the brunette pig-tailed girl recovered she briefly flashed the platinum blonde a very dirty look and ceased her shenanigans with arms crossed in a huff. Neo then insisted on looking over her podium to gaze at Jaune from afar, her face decorated with half-lidded eyes followed by a wide sinister looking smile forming.**

**"Okay then, Jaune! Ready for your date with teenage Glynda Goodwitch? I'm sure you've already recovered plenty from that last family photo by now." Whiz's voice boomed grabbing the attention of both the audience and the contestants back to the center of the stage.**

Now everyone turned to the deputy headmistress with a large smile. "Not. A. Word." Glynda could do without their commentary of her younger self dating her future student.

That was a rare sentence.

**"Yes. I've had time." Jaune replied stiffly in bitterness.**

**It wasn't just that yet another family photo was shown, further lowering his own sense of masculinity, but it was the knowledge that they were downloaded en mass by viewers like all his female friends back at Beacon and potentially more.**

The guys winced, praying for Jaune's pride. The grils were eagerly awaiting their very own showing of the coveted photographs.

**For the moment he pushed it to the back of his mind and refocused his attention on the form of teenage Glynda gently waving back at him with a pleasant smile as the portal behind her opened up.**

**'**_**She seems so different from the teacher we know…and well fear too honestly. Maybe growing older makes you bitter? Either way she is still pretty and well hot now that I think about it.**_**' Jaune perished the brief fantasy quickly when he felt the crop-wand of hers snap hard on the desk surface in his imagination.**

Grins intensified as Glynda just helplessly looked to the ceiling in hope for divine intervention making this cease. Her silent pleas went unheeded.

"Living the dream," Nep whispered to Sun, who nodded.

**Thinking back to the older version he wondered how her stern demeanor and ever present scowl could have resulted from the cordial demure student he was looking at. Suddenly the green in young Glynda's eyes seemed that more appealing just as her dazzling smile kept its focus on him.**

**"Before we venture into that territory there's another couple of things we forgot to mention about scores." Whiz called out again snapping Jaune out of his trance as he turned to see the host holding up a hand halting him from walking out of his spot.**

**"Ooohh looks like Jaune-boy is hot for teacher." Yang snickered from the dorm. "I actually want to see how Miss Goodwitch's reaction would be after this show and how awkward it would be for her and Jaune in class."**

"Let's assume 'very'," Ren answered.

**Pyrrha ignored her jibe at the possible scenario of chaos and simply kept focus on the screen, both the one showing the game show and other belonging to her scroll showing onesie wearing infant Jaune. She loved that pic the most.**

A few fountains of blood erupted.

"Gyeeeee! Soooo cuuute!" Yang was actually stomping her feet, barely handling the adorableness of the early noodle.

Pyrrha was off to dream land, imagining her kids. Velvet desperately looked for tissues for her nose.

Weiss couldn't help herself. "So adorable," she squeaked out.

Kali smiled at Tori, blushing herself, and a nonverbal communication followed.

**"Well we won't ever know now will we? What are the odds the link to this would go out to others?" Weiss asked not expecting an answer.**

**"Weiss…do you not know how bad Jaune's luck is?" Ren asked feeling a bit of dread in his tone.**

**"Yeah, if anything the whole school is probably watching this, but even I'm not hoping for that to be a thing." Nora added. "If team CRDL does make a habit of mocking our leader then…" She whipped out a pair of sunglasses from out of nowhere and put them on. "…it's leg breaking season."**

"I like this one," Arturia proclaimed while pointing at Nora, who preened under the praise.

**"What she said... kinda. All in all I don't think everyone got these links since it was just sent ****t****o just a few of us, right? Who else could possibly interested in something like this?" Ruby offered with hands out in a 'Whats the worst that can happen' type of gesture.**

**'**_**Oh Ruby, you have no idea.**_**' Blake thought getting the feeling a certain headmaster and his deputy would be getting in on this madness as well. She is usually right about these feelings.**

"Jinx." Yang was certain the headmistress had some choice words about this gameshow. Her own was inhibited form speaking even a syllable by Blake's and Vo- _Jaune's _awesome moms, lest the use any word spoken against her.

**Elsewhere in the School a certain pair of educators received links in their scrolls leading them to the live stream of the famous Game Show.**

**"W-what in all the name of Oum is this?!" Glynda Goodwitch asked with deadly tenseness in her voice and felt her hands clench hard on the large Scroll pad in her hands. '**_**That's me…! On a date with Jaune Arc? My student?! What mystical forces could have arranged this?**_**'**

**Ozpin simply popped an eyebrow ever so slightly and lifted his coffee mug to his lips taking a sip in nonchalant manner. "Ideal entertainment for the weekend, Glynda. One that I for one am happy to have. Although I must say it is refreshing to see the younger version of you have her eyes set on Mister Arc, theoretically if you two happen to date and form a relationship then I would gladly overlook it."**

Now everyone looked to Ozpin. "I would," he freely admitted. "Glynda, you have my blessing. You do need to unwind from time to time."

The deputy took a sharp breath as the women beside her giggled.

**Glynda dropped the scroll in her hands and looked positively flustered as she started sputtering incoherently using various words such as scandalous, outrageous, indecent, etc.**

**Back to Jaune…**

**"Like what?" Jaune asked curious as Glynda awaited from afar patiently.**

**"Well we don't know if you weren't already wondering, but how high do you think the compatibility scores go, ma man?" Boomstick chimed in and gestured to the board where the percentages in impressive double digit results.**

**Jaune blinked a couple times in stupor. "A hundred percent, right? That's gotta be the top grade anywhere."**

**Young Glynda nodded at this and patiently waited by her portal with a sweet smile on her face.**

"If the host is asking, it's not conventional," Tai observed, now all for embarrassing Glyn.

**Both hosts shook their heads in unison making Jaune slump a little. '**_**You gotta be kidding me.**_**'**

**"Another new rule then?" He asked flatly. "You guys have to be making this up as you go along."**

**"Well I wouldn't say it's 'New' new, just one we forgot to mention. We are still getting used to these powers after all." Whiz added shrugging.**

"Wonderful, so these hosts are incompetent," Weiss exasperated.

**"Yep, things were so much simpler when we were just internet hosts to a web series about grisly death matches between franchise characters, ah good times." Boomstick as though drifting off in reminiscence. "Anyway, we were just going to tell you that the highest score limit is in fact 200%, which is kinda why getting high grades like anything in the 60s to the 80s on the first go is such a big deal. You should be proud of that man-mojo you got."**

**Jaune nodded in understanding and felt a bit proud at how big a deal it was getting strong starting scores. He deflated a little when they mentioned the score limit, but he knew it couldn't have been that easy.**

Everyone was paying close attention to the explanation, now wondering what would happen if the score of 200% was hit.

**"Wow, so two hundred then, huh. Anything else?"**

**"Yes; compatibility ratios can go down depending on how compatible you are and how you deal with unique versions of your date." Whiz added.**

**"For example; if you were more than a little freaked out by Pyscho ex-girlfriend version Pyrrha Nikos with blood on her clothes then you might be a little paranoid and fearful around regular Pyrrha, or rather any other variation of her. A good ladie's man has to account for all types of craziness in the dating my drift?" Boomstick commented certainly earning the attention of the girls back home.**

Teams RWBY, Sloth, SN and CFVY looked to the spartan trying to imagine her as a yandere. The horrifying thing was that they didn't have to try hard.

**"Darn tooting. If Jaune wants to 'boyfriend supreme' he has to be ready to deal with all flavors of us." Yang shouted in agreement mentally assessing how he would go about talking puns and jokes with her. Only at the end of that thought she drifted into a brief fantasy of Jaune riding her bike with her on it…wrapping her arms around his waist. '**_**No, bad Yang! We do **_**not**_**have these thoughts!**_**'**** Yang quickly shook her head and slapped herself a few times earning questionable looks from all around.**

Yang in the theatre blushed a little as Tai growled. It was a little too fast for him, seeing his little girls growing up.

Then he saw the stare and the _grin_ on Tori's face and he paled, remembering her promise from ages past.

**Pyrrha frowned wryly and mentally hoped that Jaune wouldn't be off put by an example like that coming into the show. '**_**Well Jaune is anything if not adaptable, he adjusted well enough with Carolina.**_**'**** She thought feeling a bit of kinship with her counterpart and resolute that her favorite knight could handle whatever comes his way.**

**"That'd be something to see; Psycho ex-girlfriend Pyrrha coming for her man and cutting down anyone in her way. That might work as an animation or at least fanfiction, he he he." Nora pitched.**

**"I'd read it, providing there were graphic details on the horror element as well as *ahem* 'Suggestive' moments between Pyrrha and Jaune." Blake declared not surprising anyone. Reading profound literature is one thing and enjoying smutty material was another, combine the two and you get Blake's tastes in books.**

"Oh, so you read erotic literature?" That had caught the blonde mother's attention. John tried to hold her back from revealing too much even as she asked: "Got any favorites?"

Blake blinked in surprise at the sudden interest. "Well, I favor '_Ninjas of Love_'."

Her mother and Jaune's mother looked at each other in delight. Glynda knew that look; they were up to something.

**"If by that you mean sexy results then totally! Horror and bloodied psycho exes make for great entertainment value." Nora piped as though inspired.**

**"Best just to leave that to fanfiction, Nora." Ren offered with a supporting grin after placing a hand on her shoulder.**

**"It really feels like they're making up new rules on the spot to match their unorganized chaos of the Game Show." Weiss commented putting away her scroll along with everyone else except for Pyrrha who still had one of the Shota Jaune pics on her screen.**

"Can't really judge, since we jumped in kinda midway," Coco pointed out, eliciting a 'sorry' from the spartan.

**"Eh what can you do. I do kinda wonder how they pull off the time travel business. I mean would our Glynda Goodwitch have memories of this with Jaune?" Ruby questioned making everyone curious.**

**"Let's just watch and find out, it's more interesting than over thinking it." Blake added as they all turned their attention back to the screen.**

**Jaune nodded and walked ahead of the hosts and took young Glynda's left hand in with his as they walked through the portal together.**

**Once they were gone Neo quickly typed on her scroll with the text message; 'I want to stomp that woman really badly. I'm sure blonde boy will come to like petite girls more than whatever she is, once I get through with him.'**

"Wow, she is planning to go all out," Yang noted. '_Why does she seem so familiar, though?_'

**Again no one really paid her any mind except for Nora the Valkyrie who simply shot; "Oh yeah? Well that works out for me because I'm already petite and lovable all around."**

Nora cheered for her other self while Ren prayed for Jaune. Nora could be a handful at the best of times, but an overly amorous Nora?

**Neo stared at her unflinching until Nora added something else. "Did you know I snapped the neck of a rabid grizzly bear once I hit puberty? Boy was blood was gushing all around at that time and it wasn't mine."**

"Metal," both Nep and Sun commented. The others just nodded in horror. Glynda couldn't help but sigh in relief as she only had to put up with one Nora Valkyrie, not a Nora the Valkyrie who was out to defile one of her students.

"Huh, kinda sounds like my first fight as a teenager," Nora pointed out.

**The hosts and Weiss froze up when hearing this, Weiss being a bit more cautious around her now and Neo jotting down another name in her list of 'rivals'.**

**"Pst, Boomstick. You think you can ready an emergency teleportation portal in case something happens with her?" Whiz whispered from the side to his partner until Nora's eyes flashed dangerously their way, her chilling smile stopped them from whispering any further.**

**Back at the dorm…**

**"Wow she has them scared stiff literally! They look like statues wearing armor now." Yang added with a giggle.**

**"My story was kind similar if I'm being honest, it's funny how it was exactly the same; mister Teddy's head popped off too." Nora mused with a finger to her chin.**

**Blake, Weiss, and Ren however were all just a little more afraid of Valkyrie Nora now, not that it would be much effort at this point.**

Those who knew Nora were not that surprised at this point, as the hammer wielder had displayed some crazy physical feats already. Those who didn't where mortified and, in the case of the Arcs, worried about their son.

**"Now I'm very worried for Arc, what if her idea of a date is something physical?" Weiss asked around with a concerned look on her face.**

**"I'm sure it'll be fine, Jaune is made of tougher material than you think. Even so I doubt even Valkyrie Nora would harm him…too much." Ren commented looking unsure. '**_**I am glad for the Nora that I have, I don't think I could handle that version. I pray that Jaune does if she decides to come over to this universe.**_**'**

"Same," Ren said, making Nora pout a little. She wasn't that bad! Okay, maybe sometimes, but not the point!

**"This actually made me curious as to what other wild versions of ourselves we'll see. I'm personally hoping for a vampire version of myself to appear." Blake admitted bashfully. She wanted something of herself to be out of one of her books. '**_**Preferably without any unnecessary sparkling skin.**_**'**

"Preach!" Blake yelled, surprising her team and making Mrs Arc laugh.

**Once they exited the portal they wound up at a stylish yet inexpensive cafe somewhere within Vale. Jaune wowed and walked alongside Glynda to the counter to make an order. Jaune had a cinnamon bun with some sweet tea, he'd usually try to order chicken nuggets and grape soda, but he felt he had to really play up his maturity a bit since the family photos. He also didn't want to appear childish in front of a regal classy woman like Glynda.**

**"Nice place, that should be our go-to spot whenever we go to Vale." Yang suggested and the girls nodded in agreement. Pyrrha made note of it to use as a dating avenue, but she would be just as fine going anywhere with Jaune. Even the Arcade.**

"Damn." Everyone kind of wanted to go there now. The place looked nice, not overly fancy and comfortable to hang out in.

**Once they got their food they strode around to a table to sit down at, Jaune was wowed at the simplistic yet wholesome setting, but he marveled more at how chipper this Glynda appeared to be.**

**'**_**Better not ask that on a date; hey did you suddenly turn bitter during your later years?' Nope, horrible dating tactic.**_**' **

As the younger women giggled, the older women smiled and nodded. Arturia remembered how Johnathan, being raised without any women in his life, had absolutely no idea how to talk to a girl. His bumbling dorkiness and attempts to woo her endeared him to her fast. She did not regret marrying this wonderful man.

**Jaune thought and took a sip from his glass. "You know I had no idea this place was in Vale, but then again I usually just check out the comic shop, arcade, and the carni- oh my dear lord I really am too childish." He ended abruptly and put his head to his hands in frustration with himself.**

**Weiss**** and Blake snickered a bit at his own dismissal of tastes, yet Pyrrha and Ruby rather enjoyed those places regardless of opinion.**

**"There's nothing with going to those places, except for maybe the comic book shop." Pyrrha noted.**

**"Hey I have a lot of interests over there and just about any store that sells weapon part magazines and sweet 'Camp Camp' comics." Ruby chimed in with support.**

"Yup yup!" Ruby concurred with other her. Weiss just mumbled something about Jaune finally becoming self-aware.

**Glynda saw this and let out a mirthful chuckle until she reached out her left hand over to his forehead. Once Jaune felt this he looked up and saw the pleasantly smiling face of an angel…in glasses.**

**"Childish or not you're still a young man, Jaune. Learn to take these pleasures in life and enjoy what makes you happy, that could change sooner than you think when reaching the adulthood of being a fully realized huntsman." She said with a soft sympathetic glance that raised his spirits. In her mind flashed the image of Ironwood bearing a similar upbeat grin like Jaune except that the image faded to a more hardened one sooner than later.**

"You knew General Ironwood back in the day, Miss Goodwitch?" Weiss asked in curiosity.

"I did." the blonde teacher replied, sounding remorseful. "That was before he became obsessed with becoming the greatest soldier to ever be. He changed for the worse." She looked down while she said that, remembering…

Remembering a young man not unlike the young Mr Arc. Now that she thought about it, the two are, or were, quite similar.

**Jaune let out a quick laugh and rose up to feast on his roll. The two ate together in comfortable atmosphere until Jaune let out his opinion of their location. He knew he couldn't talk too much about the future since he was under the impression paradoxes could occur, not that he wanted to impress upon young Glynda about her adult self's daily stresses. Many of which included repairing damaged areas caused by the students, a lot of it by Nora.**

The educator looked over to Nora, who was looking sheepish at being called out. "It's...not that bad, is it?"

"Nora, we are already dreading one of you. If that Valkyrie Nora would come over, the world would not survive it," Ren deadpanned at her, making the bubbly ginger shrink into her comfortable seat.

**"Thanks, Mi- Glynda. I think I really needed to hear that. As always you've corrected something I felt off with and gave me a valuable lesson that's gonna help me later." He stated making her flash a grateful nod.**

**"You're very welcome, Jaune. I do take pride in teaching others, there have only been so many times I had to tutor Qrow because he slacked off and his sister wouldn't lift a finger to help him. Tai-Yang had Summer to educate him on materials he was lacking behind as well and Ozpin never really needs anyone's help since he was smart already. Oh the irony to be if I ever had to handle messes with him past our school years." She said offhand and Jaune nervously averted his eyes so as not to give up I'm aware that I'm a teacher at Beacon instructing your generation, correct?" She asked twirling her straw around inside her drink.**

The adults looked a little embarrassed while reminiscing about the good old days. Tai's kids, meanwhile, were delighted at their old man being embarrassed for a change. Ruby couldn't help but giggle at the thought of her dad and her uncle being as bad with schoolwork as she was at the start of the school year.

**"I can't really spoil too much, but yeah that last part is especially true. Let's just say you're great at what you do and you're a real whiz with your wand. Kinda curious why you fashioned it into a crop though."**

**"I can think of a few reasons, bow chika wow wow." Yang joked earning a few sighs and a bewildered look from Ruby.**

"Cease!" was all Glynda could say before her old friends gave her the side eye.

"You do look like a dominatrix," commented Tori, making the witch stammer out about how she was not inclined that way in the bedroom.

Her students were surprised at seeing their feared teacher acting this helpless in front of old friends and apparent classmates.

**"Why thank you, but if I'm being honest one of my real talents is in singing." Glynda confessed averting his eyes as he looked on in wonder and added with a smirk. "The Crop addition is 'inspire' good behavior either in my colleagues or just about anybody that wants to give me a headache."**

**"You sing?"**

**'**_**She sings?**_**' They all thought back at the dorm.**

"You sing?" the students echoed, baffled at this revelation.

"Yes." She was catching herself again, regaining her composure. "I do, occasionally."

**She nodded and looked back to him while gesturing behind her at the stage to the far off corner of the cafe. "It's one of my more secretive hobbies that I partake here with a passion, every so often I perform and when I do I feel free."**

**"Wow…I'd love to hear you." He blurted making her blush a bit until he got embarrassed and sputtered a bit himself. **

"Woo, go, my son! Charm Glyndie's panties off!"

Chaos briefly erupted as more than a few indignant shrieks, squeaking and hearty amounts of laughter followed.

"Arturia Pendragon!" chided Goodwitch. "Cease and desist from soliciting your own son to..."

"Doing the do?" completed Tori.

"Hide the zucchini?" added Kali, chiming in.

"Give a cream filling?"

"STOP!"

"Those moms are awesome." Neptune was utterly awestruck.

When everyone settled back in, with Glynda giving everyone who so much as glanced in her general direction the evils, the movie resumed on its own.

**"****I**** mean I can dance and have a real knack for it, but my passion is becoming a huntsman."**

**Now her eyes hardened a bit.**

**Elsewhere older Glynda looked on at her scroll's screen in what resembled a somber look at her young self. '**_**It seems that facet of reality has already gotten to her, maybe that is why she was so bright and happy to have her outing with Jaune.**_**'**

Kali and Tori had gotten most of the teasing out of their system, so they kept their mouths shut. The students were meanwhile in thought of their stern teacher having to live through the worst huntsman life had to offer.

They hoped that they would never have to make these kinds of experiences themselves.

**Jaune picked up on her change and leaned closer across the table. "You kinda stiffened up at that last part, is it because being a huntsman is dangerous and all that. Before I couldn't do so well since I was 'under trained' but now I can hold my own just fine."**

Pyrrha nodded exuberantly at that part, making Nora chuckle.

"You know," Ynag spoke up. "I kinda wonder why he seemed undertrained at the start of the year.."

"How _did_ he get into Beacon?" It was not the first time Weiss asked this question. The Arcs just looked to each other in worry as Pyrrha became nervous.

**"I'm sure of it, Jaune, your results from training make you a quick learner and adaptable in the field. You have potential to be a great huntsman yet, it's just…" G****l****ynda appeared downcast now as she was about to continue. "…that is only physical. I worry for your spirit in the future…Fairy tales often romanticize heroics and reality tends to hit us harder with grisly truths."**

Ruby and Yang were grimly reminded of their mother's fate. She was supermom, until she didn't come back one day.

Port rose a fist in remembrance of the comrades he lost over the years. Qrow held up his flask as Tai looked at his daughters' downcast expressions.

'_It is for the best,_' he told himself. '_If they learn it that soon, perhaps I won't lose them for good __one day__._'

Everyone held a somber expression in the face of their harsh reality and how fairy tales were an escape from this.

**Ruby tensed up a bit at this yet held firm with a look of determination. She was no fool blind to dangerous things in the field of slaying Grimm, but she would never downplay the fact that fighting monsters and saving lives was in fact what heroes. She knew for certain she felt that way and had an inkling that Miss Goodwitch saw that light in Jaune.**

**Jaune now looked concerned and felt the atmosphere stiffen a bit when Glynda gazed up back to him with a saddened expression.**

**"Please…tell me about it. I'm not fooling myself in thinking it's gonna be an easy road ahead, heh. I've actually nearly bought it several times already and that was during first semester." He revealed and it made her look a bit horrified.**

Tori whipped around to her son's team. "Is that true?" she asked with genuine fear and worry.

"He has gotten better," Pyrrha tried to assure her. "Even if there were more than a few close calls."

Nora shivered a little. She couldn't bear the thought of having to bury her friend, despite the teasing and her crazy antics she put him through.

**"I'm surprised you can recall that with a grin on your face, normally people would dread bringing up near-death experiences during their first years."**

**"I was flung across the forest by a giant scorpion and nearly mauled by bears protecting a former bully. True they're not my best memories, that's for sure, but…I learned plenty from them and that makes avoiding more slip-ups a bit easier."**

The Arcs looked positively horrified, despite the fact that their son still lived despite these experiences.

"What doesn't kill you makes you stronger, huh?" Qrow observed. "Not bad for the kid."

He shut his mouth as the blonde mother shot him a withering glare.

**Her gaze softened a bit at that, his optimism was having an effect on her it seemed. This time when she spoke her lips curled a bit. "You speak like James Ironwood as he is now; a fellow student and an aspiring huntsman like yourself."**

**"Whoa, you know General Ironwood as a student?" He asked rapt with attention. She nodded and continued.**

**"I also know Ruby's uncle and father as well, the game show hosts updated me on your current status and circle of friends by not spoiling too much." A small vein popped up on her temple. "Qrow and TaiYang, plus Bart and Peter, even Ozpin. Those boys would get me into so much trouble too often with their shenanigans, I wanted to toss each one out a ten story window and sometimes I do too."**

'Nuff said, really. Her students couldn't help but snicker at the mental image of Ozpin being flung out of a window.

**The girls back at the dorm gasped at this with the exception of the sisters gigging to themselves, they knew full well their uncle could definitely behave that way in school.**

**Their father likely the same, but now it was universally to known to the whole family that you never ever tick off Goodwitch. Ozpin chuckled mirthfully too and remembered all too well being thrown out a window one time when he had unknowingly wronged Glynda.**

**"You can see why I now place significance in a stout landing strategy." Ozpin commented.**

**Older Glynda simply looked off to the side in an embarrassed huff.**

And now, the students realized why and how the headmaster came up with this crap.

"What does he mean?" Sun, who never heard of the Beacon Initiation, was nonplussed.

"Oh, we were flung of a cliff at Initiation," Yang explained offhandedly, as if it was no big deal and it happened on the regular.

"OzPIn," Tori screeched, right before being caught by her husband in a cooldown hug. The Belladonnas looked supremely unamused at the mental image of their daughter being randomly launched into a forest teeming with Grimm.

The headmaster, deciding on the best course of action here, said nothing.

**'**_**Yep that's starting to look more like the Miss Goodwitch I remember.**_**' Jaune thought until she let out a breath and relaxed.**

**"They are all well meaning and talented in their own right, but they get into more mishaps and shenanigans than I care for." She suddenly brought her Crop-wand and smacked it into her hand creating a snapping sound and miniature shock wave from it. Jaune gulped at the display of power. "So I had to be disciplinarian and 'motivate' them to quit mucking around. You wouldn't believe how often I am called upon to repair things with my semblance. I am still a little rough around the edges though, but now those boys know not to rope me in with their nonsense."**

**'**_**Mad respect to Miss Goodwitch.**_**' Jaune thought eyeing the wand in her hand. She noticed this and quickly put it away with a cute smirk.**

"So it _is_ being a Dominatrix," Yang blurted out as the deputy looked ready to strangle Tai's daughter.

'S_ame old, same old,_' Tai and Qrow thought in regards to Glynda's habits.

**"It's good that you remind me of James Ironwood actually. He's the most upright well disciplined one out of all of us, myself excluded of course. You seem quite similar to him, or at least how he used to be…" Glynda looked a bit downcast at this part. Jaune picked up on it and waited for her continue.**

**"Used to be? What happened?"**

**"Let's just say he's turning himself into more of the absolute soldier than anyone would like. From always being about forceful approaches, focusing on might and militaristic decision making, to…rarely ever smiling anymore. He changed from the James I knew, but…" Glynda peered up from her look and brandished a sweet serene smile at Jaune before caressing her right hand gently over his. "…you're exactly like how he was except you seem to keep on smiling like a doofus even though you've seen some of the brutality of huntsman life already."**

The teasing smiles from the two mothers returned, making the Goodwitch sigh in resignation.

**"Tell me about it, on initiation day alone I thought I was going to die at least three times, Grimm seem to keep chasing after me for some reason. I guess I either look tasty or maybe the universe has it out for me." Jaune commented earning a small laugh from her.**

**"That's certainly feasible, but I find it charming that you're optimistic about all of it." She added making him blush now. "I'm sorry I perhaps shouldn't be discussing someone else on a date."**

**"Don't be, I kinda like that you're comparing me to the big shot Atlas General, makes me feel a bit more tough and manly."**

**Glynda popped an eyebrow in skepticism. "I didn't sat that part was a good one." He once again deflated. "You're fine the way you are, Jaune. I'm sure all your girlfriends back home would agree…I think I would too."**

**"She doesn't speak for me!" Weiss objected looking indignant.**

'_Though she does for me_', three already named individuals thought as Arturia was smiling at the notion.

Tai was conflicted. On one hand how dare some kid try and corrupt his daughters! On the other, it was Arturia's son.

And the woman could be _vindictive_.

**This time Jaune blushed up a bit storm and quickly brought up his glass of sweet tea to hide behind as he gulped it down. Glynda amused herself at his reaction and took another sip of her shake.**

**Jaune's eyes darted to the upright corner noticing the shattered moon in the beautiful night sky. This gave him an idea about a joke he remembered.**

**"Hey you know about your semblance…?" He started and her attention shifted solely on him waiting for him to continue.**

**"What about? Certainly it is powerful and it essentially reverses the cause-effect of most destroyed objects, but I am still currently only adept at it."**

**"Yeah, but what I'm saying I know how to fix the shattered moon." He lured and drew her in. "We put Glynda on a rocket and send her to the moon."**

…**.**

The students and adults in the theatre erupted into laughter.

Hell, even Glynda couldn't help but giggle. Despite the silliness of the joke, or perhaps exactly because of it.

Ozpin chuckled...then seriously thought about it.

**The corners of her lips tugged ferociously at her sides until her face stretched into a smile that evolved into her having full-blown laughter.**

**"Huh ha ha ha ha ha ha!" She roared with laughter to the point her glasses fell off her face as she struggled to keep her breath. The absurdity and randomness of the joke involving her and her semblance just popped her bubble making her nearly cry tears in laughter.**

**The girls back home filled the room with laughter too, even Ren was stifling himself. Yang made a note to jot that one down for later.**

**Jaune chuckled along with her and mentally did a thumbs up for the perfect delivery of that once old meme/joke that he and his classmates made up one time.**

**Once she finished she readjusted her glasses Glynda, both Glyndas, positively beamed at Jaune feeling refreshed at the childish humor that was lost on them.**

**"I haven't laughed that hard for a while, he he he." Glynda leaned over to place a cute kiss on his forehead making them both blush. **

Pyrrha was wracked the entire time with jealousy at the date going so well. Velvet was envying the young Glynda for her boldness, something she lacked in terms of romance. Ruby wondered if she could be that bold.

John noticed the yearning looks and made a mental note.

'_Looks like my shoddy advice somehow worked._' The wrong mental note.

**Once she pulled back her beautiful green eyes darted over to the stage and lit up with an idea. "You wish to hear me sing, Jaune? I'll show you if you'd like."**

**Jaune now looked up at her with childish excitement and nodded. She got up out from her table and whipped her wand hand bringing the microphone over to it.**

**Now holding it in her hand she looked over to the owner with a look of confirmation, once he gave her the 'ok' signal she stepped up onto the stage and placed her lips close to the microphone.**

**Everyone; RWBY, NPR, Sun and Neptune, Coco and Velvet, and Ozpin himself all leaned closer very intently to listen. Only older Glynda seemed to avert her eyes from the screen with a very red face. Singing had once been a hobby she was very talented in and passionate about, it's also not something she wanted everyone to know either.**

Everyone leaned a little forward, curious about the oncoming performance. Coco regretted not having her scroll with her on the _one _occasion she would really need it.

The main attraction blushed a little.

**"This song goes out to the blonde boy wearing an adorable bunny hoodie…" Glynda began making Jaune squirm a bit with red cheeks as eyes gazed over at him. She began singing with a rather smooth lovely voice.**

**'**_**Fly me to the moon**_**'**

**'**_**Let me play among the stars**_**'**

**'**_**Let me see what spring is like on**_**'**

**The lights dimmed in the cafe and everyone sat in awe of her performance, none more than Jaune who was glued to the sight of her.**

**'**_**Jupiter and Mars**_**'**

**'**_**In other words, hold my hand**_**'**

**'**_**In other words, darling, kiss me**_**'**

**She stepped off the stage with mic still in hand as she casually sashayed over to a bewildered looking Jaune.**

**'**_**Fill my hear**__**t**__** with song and let me sing for ever more**_**'**

**'**_**You are all I long for**_**'**

**'**_**All I worship and adore**_**'**

**'**_**In other words, please be true**_**'**

**'**_**In other words, I love you**_**'**

**Jaune really went red here, he knew it might have been premature to assume those lyrics were all natural and genuinely intended towards him, but it was the presence and effect she gave off that made it all feel…real. Glynda was one hell of a singer, he positively felt entranced by her at the moment.**

**'**_**Fill my heart with song**_**'**

**'**_**Let me sing for ever more**_**'**

**'**_**You are all I l long for, all I worship and adore**_**'**

**'**_**In other words, please be true**_**'**

**'**_**In other words**_**'**

**'**_**In other words**_**'**

**'**_**I love you**_**'**

**With that she finished and a round of applause resounded from all around; the cafe attendees, the girls plus Ren at the dorm, and even the fellow contestants and hosts. Both Weiss's were especially impressed and each Schnee girl clapped for her performance.**

**'**_**I bet I can sing just as well…if I had a singing voice.**_**' Neo mulled a bit downcast and crossed her arms in a huff.**

The theatre had erupted in rambunctious applause when the performance ended, congratulating Miss Goodwitch on her stunning voice and, in the case of the two usual culprits, teasing her relentlessly.

The crushing three wondered idly if their Jaune would enjoy being serenaded.

**Older Glynda felt a small tear leave the corner of her eyes as she looked on at the scene with a nostalgic smile. She was impressed that her young growing student made her younger self feel that way, in a way he did remind her of Ironwood's former radiance as well as the collective gung-ho attitude of all students seeking to be heroes.**

**"You were quite the singer back in the day, Glynda." Ozpin commented taking another sip from his mug.**

**"Indeed I was, I probably could've been a famous one too if I didn't decide on becoming a huntress instead, but I have no regrets for the path I stayed on. Even though I have become a bit more cynical and jaded since my youth I…think it's good to see innocence such as that thrive in others these days. I'm glad to know that mister Arc is aware of death being a possibility. I can only hope he doesn't become as embittered as the rest of us became after a certain point." Glynda stated never looking away from the screen as her younger self put away the mic and walked up to Jaune pulling him into a deep affectionate hug in which he returned.**

Qrow sighed. "There are more than enough people who think they're invincible. It's all fun and games and then you lose an arm."

The students mulled over that. Death _was_ a real possibility in their career choice.

Johnathan, meanwhile, pondered something. People thinking they're owed success and respect coming with the reputation as an accomplished hunter have no place in that particular field.

It was because of the promise of death, the fate of all warriors regardless of their foe, that he had not trained his son, despite the latter's want to be a hero.

The father felt guilty, now more than ever.

**"I don't think I believe that and neither do you, or rather your younger self." Ozpin added making her smile fondly at the image before her.**

**"Still would it be called 'robbing the cradle' if you two were to possibly become an item in the present?" Ozpin added.**

**A vein materialized on her forehead and her wand came straight out along with a menacing look. The windows to the office opened threateningly.**

**"Never mind what I said." Ozpin chuckled and went back to sipping his coffee.**

A few chuckles and a cackle from Qrow went through the theatre.

"I believe it is called a May-December Romance," Blake added, not intending a jab and Glynda's age, but carrying it out regardless, which earned her a glare.

Ozpin felt like something wonderful could be set in motion; he just had to make the right actions.

**Back to Jaune and Glynda…**

**Jaune felt her retract a bit from the hug and look into his eyes with her own reddened one.**

**"So uh…those lyrics…"**

**"They're from the song's own pre-made lyrics, your moon joke just reminded of it thus I decided to use it for the occasion. It's actually the first song I officially sang here…" Glynda shared keeping her hands knitted tightly around his neck. "I wouldn't say those lyrics are too far off the mark, only another couple of dates withe either me or my future self can really say for certain."**

**He blushed at this and was about to say something until she surprised him with a stealthily engaged kiss delivered to his lips. He relaxed into the embrace and kissed her back.**

Jealousy was back again as Glynda blushed furiously while even her own colleagues joined in the teasing.

"My oh my, what youth!" went Port.

"Even if it is rather...uncouth," rhymed Oobleck. One look at each other and the plan was made.

"What is next, a date after a training fight?" Bart went on.

"Or a dance under the pale moonlight?" Peter was on a roll. Everyone else just listened on and watched as Glynda became redder and redder.

"Perhaps a nice dinner at the dawn of night?"

"Or watch a movie, one that brings the fright?"

"A gentle kiss, the softest touch"

"Mayhaps it would become too much?"

"The younger one full of passion, trying his luck?"

"Or the older one inviting him to-"

"ENOUGH!"

The grown men started pouting as the students protested. "Spoilsport," the portly teacher grumbled.

**Jaune returned the game show stage and reluctantly left young Glynda back in the portal vortex. He did the same thing as he did with V4 Ruby and placed his hands over hers over the reflected surface as she bade him goodbye…for now.**

**Teenage Glynda leaned forward a placed a kiss on the surface from her end and smiled fondly at him before disappearing into the mystical space vortex of purple energy.**

Pyrrha was resolving now to find another episode of the game show now, preferably with another date with another her.

The women just cooed at the scene, finding it heartwarming. Ozpin had wanted to say something, but resolved that it was too early and he did not want to push his luck.

**"Now that was heart warming, and hopefully if you've scored enough points with her younger self as well as the sexier teacher version will want you to date soon." Boomstick commented as Jaune turned around to head back over to the center of the stage.**

**Part of him wouldn't object to the idea, but he wasn't sure if the current version of Miss Goodwitch he knew would be affected in any way by this. 'I really wish I understood time/space mechanics better.'**

Cheeky side-eyes again.

**Walking back over to the center of the stage Jaune awaited to see his score.**

**"And here…we…go…!" Whiz announced and the holographic display of double digit numbers started flickering randomly until it came to a stop.**

**"Excelsior, my man! The score comes out to a very solid 66% meaning that version of Glynda or a close parallel will come back for more taboo student-teacher action." Boomstick declared making Jaune gush a bit with pride.**

The Arcs cheered loudly and unabashedly, making the teacher slump a little. '_I am not going to live this one down anytime soon, am I?_'

**"If they dated on this show would that mean Jaune would get better grades?" Ruby asked innocently.**

**"Ruby clear your mind of those thoughts, they're scandalous!" Weiss shouted.**

"I wouldn't," the stern teacher clarified. "It would be grossly unprofessional."

**"Well he could really improve his grade point average if he did, plus she could also whip Jaune more into shape." Nora stated.**

**"I believe that position is filled, Nora." Pyrrha stated meaning herself.**

Pyrrha shot Nora a nasty look, to which the latter replied with turning away whistling 'innocently'. The Arcs took note of this.

"I take it you are helping my son become a better fighter?" John spoke up, addressing the spartan.

"I-yes, I am," she replied, stiffening a little, trying to make a good impression at the one who seemed like an older version of her crush.

The man smiled at her. "Thank you, then. I, unfortunately, could not train him myself."

"So he is self-taught?" Yang concluded.

"Something like that," Arturia answered. If her theory was correct and her son had faked is credentials, then there was a good chance his friends would react poorly to that particular tidbit.

**He had fun getting to know his younger teacher personally as well as enjoying the incredible performance she gave. '**_**Who would've thought she'd be such an incredible sin**__**g**__**er, she'd probably give Weiss some tough competition.**_**'**

**"By order of next selection we've decided to throw away the 'wait in line' way of numbering and simply select your contestant for you at random instead." Whiz declared causing a wave of small surprise from everyone. "We've come to the conclusion that going in order is too predictable and a little boring so we decided on simply randomly selecting your next date to shake things up."**

"Yet more rules made up on the fly," Weiss grumbled in annoyance. "Wonderful."

"I like it," Nora defended. "It shakes things up."

**"If you seek to keep this maiden from her man-meat you got another thing coming!" Nora the Valkyrie called out feeling itchy for her hammer.**

"Wait, other me was next?! I take it back!"

**"Whoah whoah take it easy, okay. Choosing candidates are just gonna be a little more wild and unpredictable now. Ya know for the viewers. There's still a good chance you'll get selected, no one's getting put on the back burner here."**

**"Very well, this warrior wants to see Jaune go through more training to better wet her appetite for a fierce suitor, but I don't feel like waiting too long ya know." Nora The Valkyrie declared keeping a firm grip on her large deadly looking hammer surging with electricity. '**_**Also seeing him get beefed up…does things to me, hooh yeah.**_**'**

Now everyone was looking at Nora funny. "I mean," she started before clamping her mouth shut. Seeing her Renny train and get all sweaty did things to her, so it was only natural for the her without a Renny to feel things when Jaune-Jaune got sweaty.

Not that she could say that out loud.

**"The reason we chose to randomize the selection process is not only to keep viewers on their seats, but also because of the influx of fan requests from our viewers." Boomstick stated gesturing to the holo-board where a screen of dozens of requests shown. "Not that the selection process of other universe candidates wasn't already randomized, but here we have a good grasp on what to aim for, but largely it is all still randomized."**

**"Now we had to filter some of it to make sure no paradoxes can come about, so you'll only see character suggestions." Whiz added.**

**A lot of them making Jaune's eyes go wide, his as well as those back home.**

**"Why are there so many people requesting a 'me' from the R63 universe?" Ren asked appalled yet it barely showed.**

The minds of the girls went into the gutter immediately, except it featured male Ren getting it on with the blonde. Because hey, if men are allowed to fantasize about lesbians...

'_It would be hot,_' a certain ginger conceded.

The men shuddered, immediately knowing what fresh hell the girls were conjuring up.

Ren feared for his bum.

**"I see plenty of my name there too." Blake chimed in as they all leaned close to read them all.**

**'**_**Raven Branwen?! and so many times too! Why do people want to see my mother date Jaune so badly?**_**' Yang's thoughts were a flux, part of her did want to see her just to know her a bit better even if it were for the dating show. Another part of her would feel too awkward that very idea, but she digresses she'd at least like to see what she's like. wretched in surprise.**

Mrs Arc started to cackle, to the bewilderment of everyone else, safe for Qrow and Tai, who blanched.

**'**_**There's also Summer in that list, and…**_**'**

The cackling became louder.

**"Uncle Qrow as a woman?!" Ruby shrieked in surprise. "Or wait, does that mean we'd have to call her 'Auntie' Qrow if she appears?"**

**"Probably." Nora said aloud.**

Tai looked to his friend and teammate in confusion.

"Don't you fucking dare think about it," the drunkard hissed.

**'**_**Hardly any mentions of me in there, aside for whatever a 'Maiden' seems to be.**_**' Pyrrha noted with a brow furrowing in curiosity.**

Glynda and Ozpin stiffened.

**"People want Grimm versions of us? How does that even make sense? I mean what would they look like?" Weiss wondered secretly hoping not to see an abominable version of herself with pale skin and spikes.**

More than a few brows rose, indeed wondering what their Grimm selves would look like.

Sun imagined himself as part Beringel, going full King Kong.

Nora thought of being part Ursa, just roaming about the land.

Everyone had their own imaginations; some with more horns, some with less, some thought in cool designs, some sexualized **cough** Blake **cough**.

**Back to the game show…**

**"So now what? Who goes next if I don't get to choose?" Jaune asked wondering which of the remaining three would be the next date. 'Please don't let it be Valkyrie Nora.' He added praying for his bones.**

Nora resolved to being a little more gentle, particularly because of a sudden fear of a certain blonde mother.

**"Well we're picking randomly, just look at the doorways behind the podiums for clarification. Whichever one the light shows up one is the next girl to be your date next. Let it roll!" Boomstick shouted energetically.**

**The frame of one of the doorways lit up and randomly flicked here and there behind each contestant. The signals slowed to a crawl until the last signal stopped behind…**

**"Weiss…" Jaune uttered when noticing the selection light flickering behind it's chosen contestant; V4 Weiss Schnee.**

Yang saw the opportunity. "Looks like Vomit Boy will get that date after all," she teased.

Weiss wanted to object. "I-But-He-Listen here, Xiao Long!" Though she had become flustered and stumbled a little.

"So my son asked you out and you rejected him?"

In the short time that Weiss had known Arturia Arc, the mother of eight had established herself as being quite scary whenever it came to her children. "Yes?" She had decided to be honest about the rejection, omitting the various, a fair bit cruel ways, of repeatedly rejecting the blonde.

"Your loss." Tori had taken notice of how certain girls reacted to her son dating a younger version of his teacher. It seemed she did not need to worry about potential romantic prospects for her son.

Weiss was taken off-guard by the dismissal, causing her brain to shut down for a while.

**Back home regular Weiss appeared a bit flustered and uncertain, just like Ruby was earlier she was unprepared to witness a simulation of herself and Jaune.**

**All around her the girls excluding Ren all bore cheeky wide grins on their faces.**

**"Looks like we'll finally see what would've happened if our fair Ladykiller managed to get Snow Angel out on a date." Yang snickered mischievously alongside.**

**"I support you too, Weiss! Both my bffs together would be just as good, plus you and Jaune would finally be getting along." Ruby cheered feeling a tinge of jealousy after she had said it. '**_**I'm not entirely sure why but I feel like taking those words back.**_**'**

The cackling returned with a vengeance as Yang whipped around to her sister. Ruby had appeared sheepish now and was blushing a little.

Tai looked horrified.

**"S-Shut up!"**

**Even Pyrrha appeared catty when he came to teasing Weiss, she had no worries about any residual feelings stirring within Jaune about her and held no concern for Weiss feeling the same for she was resolved to confess herself when he come back. '**_**Whenever he comes back…**_**' She thought and noticed how V4 Weiss's figure developed a little in comparison to the current one hiding behind a pillow. '**_**Still I may be worried just a little bit.**_**'**

Pyrrha felt oddly relieved that it was not her own Jaune that was stuck there, potentially reigniting his old crush. The sentiment was shared by Ruby and Velvet in secret, the latter of whom wondering if there was a version of her coming up.

**Once V4 Weiss elegantly strode over to the center the two now abandoned doorway/podiums lit up again.**

**"Now to replace the empty spots we'll be selecting our two new contestants, the suggestions box may have a factor in decision making, but nothing is too concrete yet." Whiz announced and the two doorways lit up and out stepped two figures, one of which made Jaune's jaw drop to the floor.**

The anticipation was palpable. Everyone was wondering about the new arrivals.

Yatsuhashi Daichi idly wondered about if there would be a female version of him somewhere.

What would she even be named if Neptune's version was Neptunia?

Mochi?

Yatsu liked Mochi.

**There was an elegant slender oriental girl just a bit shorter than Jaune, wore a green long sleeve similar to the original, white short shorts and flat pink slip-on shoes. Her jet black hair was shoulder length and tied decoratively into a flowing ponytail with the pink strip of hair on the side of her face. Her face was a bit rounder and more feminine and her magenta eyes were wide and piercing.**

**Jaune's heart felt like stopping for two reasons; one being that she was stunning in her own right, two being that it was….**

**"Lian Ren from the R63 universe has been chosen!" Whiz declared.**

**'**_**Gawdammit!**_**'**

Ren paled as the girls looked at him with the biggest grins.

"A sister!" Nora yelled. "And she looks so cute! Look at her, Renny!"

"I'm looking." Even if he did not really want to. She reminded him painfully of his other.

**The girls back at the dorm gasped in shock, Nora squealed in excitement and bounced in her seated position uttering words like 'sister', 'finally', and 'prettier makeup'.**

**Yang however was speechless for a different reason altogether, one that filled her core with a myriad of emotions.**

Curiosity had the blonde brawler. Then her eyes widened in horror. "No..."

"Yes," whispered another blonde, picking up on the cue.

**The second fresh contestant had long black hair beautifully layered down her backside with a neat crimson cloth at the very top. Her eyes were crimson red and her face, despite beautiful in maturity, held a look of experience and savagery.**

**'**_**It's her…**_**' Yang thought feeling her heart clench up in her chest.**

**"Our new contestant is Raven Branwen of the present day RWBY universe!"**

**"You don't look like much, but…I'll be willing to shape you up into a find swordsman and prime specimen on our 'romantic outing', Jaune." She said darkly with a chilling smile as she took her spot behind her podium.**

Arturia Arc erupted into her best rendition of a supervillain laugh, shocking everyone else.

"Vengeance!" she yelled between laughs. "Vengeance will be mine!"

John facepalmed.

"What is going on?" Ruby asked, mildly freaking out at the sudden change.

"These two!" The woman pointed at Tai and Qrow, both of whom had their jaws dropped at the arrival of their ex and sister, respectively.

"These two had the bright idea to confess for me! I had to deny it, because I felt embarrassed! So I swore to them that one day I would have a son to seduce their wives!"

All the jaw drops. "WHAT?!" shrieked more than a few girls. Yang had successfully shut down.

"I forgot how vindictive you can be," commented Ghira, taken aback by all of this.

Tai had buried his face in his hand. Qrow fled to the bottle.

**"I look forward to breaking you in and making you worthy of joining my tribe." She added with a direct gaze at Jaune making him squirm.**

The manic smile disappeared. "Over my dead body."

Yang reactivated. "I am not calling him Daddy!" she blurted out before starting to glow red in the face.

And the smile was back as Tai begged for the sweet release of death.

Blake would milk this for everything it was worth.

**"Oh yeah? Well get in line, sister!" Valkyrie Nora challenged itching for her hammer again.**

**"Boomstick…"**

**"Yeah?"**

**"Ready the safety measures just to be safe."**

**"Huh oh yeah, well if there is gonna be a brawl between two powerhouse women then I'm bringing in a mud pen."**

'_Hot,_' was the consensus among the younger men.

John decided to save this train wreck the whole situation had become. "Now!" He clapped his hands loudly. "Who wants to see pictures?"

All else was forgotten as the girls ran towards the father, surrounding him in anticipation. Though just as he was about to show them all just how weapons-grade adorable his son had been...

"Oh? Just where is this?"

"Oh, um Himmels Willen!"Weiss had just about enough of these intrusions. "Who is it?"

"Weiss? You should control yourself."

The Schnee Heiress paled. Her older sister had arrived.

"'Sup, Ice Queen."

"Oh, it's Qrow," she sighed, already dreading the conversation. "What is this?" The specialist had taken notice of the small crowd.

Ozpin rose from his seat. "I shall explain."


	4. Chapter 4

**Hello!**

**For want of a knight will resume once I manage to do this real life stuff.**

**As for this chapter, it features shadow gumball of death's "Father Jaune"!**

**Do note that the original is rife with grammatical errors.**

**I have no idea why that is and, frankly, I'm scared to ask.**

**Also, do pardon me because I have no fucking clue what a beacor is supposed to be.**

**Anyway, enjoy!**

The strange library

chapter 4: Papa Jaune's

As Ozpin was explaining the entire situation to Winter Schnee, it had become rather hard to ignore the variety of squeals and excited cries from the girls huddled around Mama Arc beholding the various pictures of a tiny Jaune in various states of dress-up.

Also nosebleeds everywhere.

"I think I can understand the entirety of this situation, Headmaster," Winter admitted after Ozpin had concluded the tale. "I suppose I can finally take a look at this young man my sister writes about. In a sense," she amended at the end.

Over at the gaggle of girls, Velvet fell backwards with blood spurting out of her nose. She just had seen a small Jaune in a bunny onesie holding up an easter egg! It was too much!

Glynda barely held together as she, too, peeked at the photos. Heavens, the boy was just too cute!

"So." Ren, out of desperation for wanting a particular photograph to _not_ appear, interrupted the carnival of admiration. "What is next on our list of watching things?"

"I would like to avoid another crazy one like the first," Weiss admitted. She would rather not return to a world where one can cause untold devastation and the police decides to arrest one on the charge of jaywalking.

"Oh, actually," Ruby said, brandishing a DVD. "We have one where Jaune is a dad!"

The DVD seemed to disappear as Arturia Arc grabbed the thing and flung it at the receiver, making it land in there perfectly.

Because fuck you, reality, Mama Arc wants grandkids.

"Well then." Coco didn't know what to say about that display of improbable accuracy. "I guess we'll watch this now.

Certain already named individuals daydreamed of having families with the blonde as they were unwittingly joined by a teacher.

Glynda shook her head, dispelling the thoughts. Where did those come from, anyway?

**It was a normal day at Beacon. It seemed like it was going to be a peaceful for everyone, but one.**

**Jaune Arc was about to go through the most strangest thing ever. Of all time.**

"Suddenly, dad!" joked Sun. "Seriously, though, I wonder how this plays out."

"Perhaps they will appear through time travel?" suggested Nora.

"Or Jaune will find one abandoned in the forest?" continued Neptune.

**Our story began in a Dust class.**

**"Okay class. Today you all will be responsible to make a Dust mix of your choosing with your team. So as long as it's safe, it's a passing grade. Understood?" Said Professor Goodwitch as she looked at the class. She was filling in for the dust teacher as he was calling in sick today.**

"Of course," grumbled the disgruntled Goodwitch, used to this kind of shit. Ozpin winced a bit, wondering how they could get more teaching staff. Perhaps pestering the council for more funding?

**"Yes madam!" The class chorus. Then they all got to work.**

**(With team RWBY)**

**"Okay team RWBY, let's make some smoke Dust for show!" Ruby said happily.**

**"It is the safest after all." Blake agreed.**

**"Then let's get started!" Yang cheered.**

**"Just make sure you grab the right Dust. I don't want a bad grade because of your mix up!" Weiss said as she crossed her arms. Which earned eyes rolls from her teammates.**

"So far, so normal," noted the blonde bombshell, causing the heiress to glare.

"There is nothing wrong with being diligent, especially when handling Dust."

**(A few minutes later)**

**"Okay. We're almost done. Just need to add this last dust and we are done." Weiss said as she was about to place the last dust into the beacor.**

**"Watch out!" A person suddenly cried out.**

**The team turned their heads in time to see Team JNPR, as well Velvet and Coco, trying to catch some green Dust crystal.**

"Wonderful," scoffed Weiss, knowing that something was about to explode.

"So perhaps Jaune will be thrown out into the forest by the explosion and find the kid?" Neptune defended his theory.

"Ooh, or the future kid will prevent a calamity by intervening just in time!" Nora replied, standing by her view.

**Jaune tripped as he tried to catch the dust, which caused the others to trip over him and landed next to team RWBY. The green Dust landed in the beacor. The group got up and watch in horror as the beacor started to shake.**

**"What did you dunces do?!" Weiss asked in horror.**

"This is not going to go well," Blake observed expertly with a wince.

"Gee, ya think?" Yang snarked, rolling her eyes.

**"We were making medicine Dust, but before we could finish it, Nora tripped then hit the plate it was on, causing it to fly over here." Ren explained quickly.**

**"Coco and I were just delivering something to Professor Goodwitch and saw the whole thing. We decided to help too to stop something bad from happening." Velvet said as she looked around trying to think of a way to dispose of the dangerous dust.**

**"Oh Monty it's about blow!" Ruby cry out in fear as she picked the dust up to throw it outside.**

**"Ruby no!" Yang cry out as the beacor exploded on her.**

Everyone was looking on in fear and slight anticipation. Obviously no one was thrown out of the room, causing Nora to await the arrival of a future kid even more eagerly.

"You think we will be fine?" Velvet asked in worry.

"Easy, Bun-Bun," Coco soothed. "We all have Aura, remember? We'll be rattled, but alive."

**The room was covered in smoke, students rushing out in a panic. The Arc being trampled on as he was still on the floor. After Jaune managed to get out of the stampede, he rushed over to the table his friends were at.**

Jaune's family winced a bit at seeing their son being just trampled over carelessly. Same with his friends.

**"Hello! Is anyone okay!?" Jaune called out as he tried to search for anyone he knew in the smoke.**

**'Darn smoke." Jaune thought angrily. When he didn't get a response, he waited in numb silence for the smoke to clear to check on his friends.**

"Where's the kids?" Tori was anxious.

"Where's my kid?" Kali was worried.

"Where are we?" Ruby was scared.

"Why are we?" Nora was contemplating. Briefly.

**Once the smoke cleared, his jaw dropped at the sight before him.**

**All of his friends were small! They turned into children!**

Every jaw within the show room had dropped down to hang loosely from the head it was attached to. They had been prepared for almost anything.

That, however?

"We were turned back to kids," Yang muttered out.

Pyrrha and Weiss were at a loss as Ren had a realization.

It startled him enough for Nora to catch on as her eyes widened, seeing the conclusion as well.

Kali Belladonna was cooing over seeing her little kitten once more.

**They all looked around, trying to figure out where they were at.**

**Their eyes stopped on Jaune and said something that caught Jaune off guard.**

**"Daddy?" they asked as they stared at him.**

If the previous happenings hadn't left the audience slack-jawed, _this _most certainly had.

"It..." Oobleck moistened his dried-out moth, wanting to share his theory on the matter. "This could be a case of imprinting onto the nearest adult-like figure."

Tai, who had his heart shattered at listening to his little angels calling someone else 'Daddy', became positively furious. "Ridiculous!" he bellowed. "They should be returned to their parents!"

"That is not probable," Ozpin interjected.

"And why is that?!"

"In Miss Valkyire's and Mr Lie's case, they can't. They were orphaned."

Tai bit back a remark and sat down, still fuming.

The adults had looks of pity for the pair, feeling that they knew why and how they became orphans in the first place.

'_Oh Monty Oum, I called him Daddy._' Yang was having a bit of a breakdown.

**He was about to deny that he wasn't their father till he looked at their eyes. The eyes were filled with fear, with no idea what was going on and hoping the man in front of them was their guardian. So he sighed as he realized what he had to do.**

**"Yes. I am your father." He said warmly. He then was tackled in a group hug while being called 'DADDY!' by the children.**

**'I'm going to need to speak to the head master.' Jaune thought as he patted Weiss small head, much to her joy.**

Winter held back from gushing about the much livelier and cuter small Weiss. Compared to her initial upbringing, this was promising to have her growing up in a more loving family, as unconventional as it was, with one father and several children.

Tori did not expect that, but welcomed it with open arms.

"Look at all those cuties!" she gushed. "Oooh, I wanna pinch those cheeks so badly!"

"Look at Ruby's eyes!" Tai yelled, playing along for the sake of bragging and getting over what had just transpired.

"My Blakey's ears are the cutest!" Kali was excited all over. Perhaps she should try for another?

Ghira felt like he was in danger.

As Coco was coming to terms that she had just called someone 'Daddy', even if it was most certainly not intended in a sexual manner, Fox found himself greatly enjoying the viewings. You see, the screen seemed to emit some form of wavelength in wind form in front of it, enabling Fox to sense the moving pictures on the screen, a small Coco and Velvet included.

Oh yes, this was his _favorite _day.

**"So let me see if I got everything." Ozpin started quietly. Jaune was currently sitting in front of the headmaster as he rocked a tiny Ruby in his arms with Blake napping in his hoodie. The rest of his 'children' were playing with Zwei (his new best friend) and staying out of trouble.**

Kali was bouncing up and down in her seat. "Tiny Blake in a hoodie hammock! Tiny Blake in a hoodie hammock! Tiny Blake in a hoodie hammock!" She and Tori were squealing at this cuteness.

"Okay, that's just adorable." Yang was over the last tidbit, reminding herself that this was not 'her'.

She also had to admit that Jaune seemed to handle the kids quite well.

Ghira was smiling wistfully at this scene. "That reminds me how you used to hide in my clothes."

Blake was blushing profusely.

**"Your team was trying to make medicine dust and Ms. Valkyrie tripped that hit the tray said dust was on." Qzpin said with a straight face.**

**"Yep." Jaune replied.**

**"Which caused the dust to teem RWBY's desk, which by the way was on the opposite side of the room and landed in team RWBY's dust. While you and your team chased after it." Qzpin said as a small smile grew on his face.**

"Oz, it looks like you're about to..." Qrow started as he looked at his employer. The man was shaking a bit as he had a grin on his face.

"He's actually laughing," observed Oobleck, who never saw Ozpin burst into laughter.

**"Yes." Jaune replied with a sheepish grin.**

**"Ms. Adel and her partner were delivering something to Professor Goodwitch and happened to be caught in the mess." Qzpin said as his smile was growing even more.**

**"Uh huh."Jaune confirmed.**

**"When the dust exploded turning all your friends into kids and the only reason you didn't turn into one is because you were stampeded on by the rest of the students in the class." Qzpin was practically shaking at this point.**

"If you hear the headmaster summing up the whole situation, it just sounds even more out there," stated Yatsu with an honest-to-Oum grin on his face. He loved everything about this, especially his two teammates being so adorable.

**Jaune just nods his head.**

**"And they think you're their father." Qzpin finished as he tried to hold his laughter in.**

**"That about sums it up yeah." Jaune said as he grimaced at the headmaster's reaction to his situation.**

**Qzpin couldn't stop himself from bursting into laughter. He found Jaune's predicament quite amusing as he remembered his friend James Ironwood went through a similar problem. But unlike Jaune, James had to deal with some of the younger soldiers when he became a soldier.**

Winter couldn't believe what she heard as Ozpin was laughing himself sick, to the bewilderment of his colleagues. Then again, the man kind of _was _a father to the soldiers, being a general and all.

The thought of James Ironwood having to change diapers greatly amused Qrow. "Can't imagine him as a dad, to be honest."

RWBY and NPR were just embarrassed at the whole situation.

**'_Oh to be young again_,' Qzpin thought fondly as he chuckled away, but was stopped by Jaune's _very_ dark glare. He looked at Jaune's arms and remembered that there were children napping on him. He almost woke the children.**

_Everyone_ was taken aback at the vicious glare the blonde noodle had sported for the moment.

"Wow," Yang was the first to speak. "He is taking this 'father' thing really seriously."

Arturia just chuckled. "If you think that's bad, you should have seen what he did to the bullies who once harassed his younger sister."

**"My apologies. I was reminded of a similar incident with a friend." Qzpin said as he regained his composure.**

**"Apology accepted. Just try to be more careful in the future, okay? I don't want the two waking up crying in fright." Jaune said with a sigh.**

"He's so careful," sighed Pyrrha, imagining it was her kids he was cradling.

"Yeah," Velvet was right behind her in the imagination department.

**"Of course. Now getting back to the matter at hand, I believe you should inform the rest of Ms. Adel's team when they get back. I'm sure they would want to know of their comrades 'sickness'." Qzpin said as he took a sip from his coffee.**

**"Wait, where are they?" Jaune asked, confused.**

**"Fox and his partner are on a mission in a ruined town not far from the one team RWBY went to. They are there to find out if the White Fang is also hiding out there. They won't be back for a while." Qzpin explained.**

**"Ahh man. I was hoping to have help raising them 'til we find a way to turn them back." Jaune whined quietly.**

"Shame," quipped Fox before feeling a cold glare from his leader.

**"Don't you worry, Mr Arc. I will have an expert on dust come and see to the problem." Qzpin said as he assured the young Knight.**

**"Thank you, headmaster. But what should I do about my studies and training as I try to care for them? I won't to be able to care for them if school gets in the way." Jaune asked.**

**"I'm sorry to say this, but you need too keep up with your studies and training while keeping an eye on them. I will make arrangement for them all to be in your class until further notice." Qzpin replied with a stern expression.**

Every parent present whipped to the teachers with both curiosity and an unspoken threat. Port took offense. "I would never endanger my students!"

"He could probably help putting them to sleep," joked Yang.

"Exactly! I have a plethora of child-fit bedtime stories!" boomed the professor, dumbfounding Yang who did not see that one coming.

**Jaune just nodded his head. He knew he couldn't convince the headmaster to change his mind. So his only option was to follow along for now.**

**"You should head back to your dorm now. It's getting late." Qzpin said as he looked at the clock on his desk.**

**"Yeah, you're right. Night, headmaster. Thanks for the help." Jaune said as he got up from his seat. As Jaune was about to call the children, he stopped and smirked as a thought came to his mind.**

**"Children, it's time we go home. Come give grandpa a hug goodbye." Jaune said with a smirk as he saw Qzpin's jaw drop.**

"Pfft!" What was left of Ozpin's coffee was defenestrated across the room.

Qrow and Tai barely held their laughter. "Grandpa Ozzie," was all Tai could say before erupting.

"Dad, noooo," whined Ruby. Yang was equally embarrassed.

Coco did not think this could get worse. Save for calling Goodwitch 'Mommy'.

**Ozpin didn't have time to react as the children gave him a group hug.**

**"Bye grandpa!" They chorused cutely. Qzpin felt his heart melt at their smiles.**

The immortal wizard sighed as he remembered what he lost. '_Cherish this feeling, other me._'

**"Goodbye little ones. Don't give your father too much trouble now." Qzpin said warmly as they began to leave.**

**"We will grandpa!" Weiss said happily as she was holding Jaune's free hand. Qzpin chuckled to himself as he watched his 'grandchildren' walk out of his office.**

Winter couldn't help herself anymore. She _whined_. "You're so adorable, Weiss," she whispered as the hardened soldier had to hold back her tears.

It would have terrified Weiss, She had never seen her sister cry.

'_Why_,' she lamented. '_Why couldn't you grow up with such a man as your father? Why couldn't _I_ grow up with such a father_?'

"D'aww, widdle Weissy is a daddy's girl," teased Yang.

"So are you," replied Weiss with a smug grin.

"You can't prove that," the blonde snarled back with sudden aggression.

**'Grandpa, huh. It's got a nice ring to it.' Qzpin thought as he got back to the most hated battle to ever come into existence.**

**Paperwork.**

**(Two hours later)**

**As soon as Jaune and his charges got back to the dorm room, he tried to get them ready for bed. It wasn't easy as he had to fight Nora, Blake and Yang to take a bath, stop Ren from eating soap, making sure Coco didn't try to get into the closet for clothes, and finally reading Velvet, Ruby, Weiss and Pyrrha a bedtime story.**

"Welcome to my pain," grumbled Tai, having accepted that Jaune would make a good dad and very happy that the screen was sensitive enough to censor the bits.

Yang was blushing profusely, as was Blake at seeing the noodle boy wrangling them into the bath.

"This takes me back," laughed Ghira. "Blake hated baths as a kid."

Nora was giggling like mad at an embarrassed Ren. "Why were you eating soap?"

Coco pointedly ignored her teammates' stares at her behavior.

**After he made sure they were all asleep in the beds he pushed together, he and Zwei went to sleep in RWBY's room for the night. They were exhausted after all that work.**

**"Tomorrow will be even harder, Zwei. Think we can handle it?" Jaune asked the dog as he laid on one of the random beds.**

**"Bark!" Zwei answered as he curled up on Jaune's side as he started to fall asleep.**

**"I take that as a yes." Jaune said as he fell asleep as well.**

**Jaune woke up to Zwei licking him awake.**

The blonde father just shook his head as his daughters were laughing. "Man's best friend. You would not believe how accurate Zwei is as an alarm."

"I believe it," grumbled Qrow, not missing the slobber.

**"Ahh, down boy!" Jaune said as he tried to pull the small dog away from him. He struggled and struggled, but soon gave up and waited for Zwei to finish.**

**As soon as Zwei finished, Jaune glared at the dog, who left the room. He came back with a bag in his mouth.**

**"That was uncalled for, Zwei." Jaune mumbled bitterly. He did not like to be slobbered in the morning.**

**Zwei's only response was a head tilt.**

**"Don't play innocent!" Jaune said with a pout. Zwei gave Jaune a nuzzle.**

**"Awww. I can't stay mad at you. It's forgiven." Jaune said as he pet the dog's head.**

The girls giggled and cooed over the small dog, sans Blake of course.

**Zwei panted happily at Jaune. Zwei then gave Jaune the bag and went to the room across the hall.**

**'What could he have brought to me?' Jaune wondered. He opened the bag and saw, to his surprise, his uniform.**

"**How did he get these? Better yet, how did he get into my room?!" Jaune thought as he looked around his room and realized something important.**

"That's our room!" shouted the little rose. "How did he get there?"

**"Wait a minute. This is RWBY's room! How did I get here?!" **

Yatsu chuckled. '_Perfect timing._'

**Jaune said as he looked around in worry. He looked at the bed he was in and pale. He saw white sheets, pillows, and snowflake patterns.**

**He was on his Snow Angel's bed!**

"How dare he!" roared Weiss in indignation.

"Ah crud," mumbled Ruby. "Weiss gets extra crabby when you touch her bed."

"I don't like anyone sleeping in my bed!"

"Weiss." The voice of Winter Schnee cut through Weiss' anger. "Please calm down. You're embarrassing yourself." '_And being disrespectful towards the young man wh so graciously looks out for you._'

**"I'm so dead!" Jaune said as he began to panic. He was about to run to his room screaming, when memories of yesterday came flooding back into his head like a train crashing into Vale's main shopping district.**

**'Oh yeah. I became a father yesterday and had a to give everyone a bath, which was hard, and me and Zwei came in here to sleep, since all the beds have been occupied, and I picked the first one I saw. That makes sense. But why did Zwei wake me up?' Jaune thought as he looked at the clock and saw it was 6:35.**

**"I guess it's time to get ready and make breakfast." Jaune said as he saw he had plenty of time.**

"How could he forget about that?" questioned the heiress.

"He just woke up," Blake defended. "And it has barely been a day after everything happened. So it hasn't quite sunk in yet."

"Astutely observed, Miss Belladonna," praised Miss Goodwitch.

**So he took a quick shower in RWBY's restroom, which he hoped they never found out about, and put on his school uniform. **

"Wait, why would we be mad about that?" Ruby was honestly confused.

"Dunno," answered Yang. "If your shower was broken, we would let you use ours, no problem," she offered to Team JNPR. Pyrrha accepted the offer and returned it, stating that Team RWBY would be invited to the same in case of emergency.

**He cleaned RWBY's room before he left the room.**

**He walked into the hallway and heard noises in his dorm room. He rushed to the door and opened it to find Zwei and Blake playing wrestling, with everyone else cheering for both sides.**

"D'awww," cooed Kali.

"Mutt," snarled Blake.

"Blake," sighed her father. "Please stop being a stereotype."

Nora leaned over to Ren and whispered in his ear. "How come we never had an idea? It was so obvious!"

Ren pondered the question and found himself with the same revelation. How come they didn't see the signs?

**Jaune shook his head amused as Zwei managed to beat Blake and sat on her back with his usually happy face.**

**"Now Zwei, take it easy on them. They are not as strong as you." Jaune said as he made his presence known.**

"No hurting little Blake," chided the red reaper.

Yang laughed. "This looks so silly!"

"This whole premise is silly," Coco pointed out.

**"Bark!" Zwei replied. But before he could answer Zwei's bark, he got tackle hugged by some blares.**

**"Daddy!" Squealed Yang, Ruby, Nora and Velvet. The others crowded around Jaune sticking their arms out, indicating they wanted a hug. Jaune chuckled at their excitement in seeing him.**

"My heart!" Tai was slowly overdosing on the cuteness.

Tori had overdoes long ago and just excitedly squeaked and cooed instead of speaking like a functioning person.

**"Good morning, little ones. Did you all sleep well?" Jaune asked as he started giving them hugs.**

**"Yep." Yang said chirpily as she climbed atop his head.**

Qrow laughed at the scene. "Same old, definitely. Firecracker used to do that a lot."

Tai laughed. "She used to say it was the best place in the house."

**"I'm glad to hear. Now let's get you guys ready for today. Because I need to go to class today." Jaune said as he smiled to them.**

**"Awww." They all whined in unison.**

**"Now now, this won't be too bad. If you're all good, I take you all shopping after class. How does that sound?" Jaune said with a cheer. The kids got excited and started making their way to the bathtub.**

"Heh, already knows how to handle me," Coco noted, chuckling as her teammates rolled their eyes.

**"This is going to be a long day, isn't it." Jaune said to more than asked Zwei. The dog rubbed Jaune's leg in comfort.**

**A few minutes later, something alerted the Hunter-in training and his trusting dog. And it was something that scared them to death.**

**"Ahh Daddy!" Weiss cried out suddenly, Jaune nearly had a heart attack as he and Zwei rushed to the restroom and saw Weiss holding her face with the others huddled around her in worry.**

That sparked worry in the older sister. "She got soap in her eyes!"

"No! Jaune, Do something!" yelled Ruby.

**"What happened?" Jaune asked concerned.**

**"The stupid soap got into my eyes!" Weiss sobbed out.**

"No, don't cry, baby," cooed Tori in a soothing tone.

"Your daddy is here, sweetie," Kali chimed in in genuine worry.

'_I'm still here!_' Weiss wanted to meld with her chair out of embarrassment as she blushed like mad.

**"Shy. Come here my little Snow Angel. Let me take of it. Zwei, get the others to take a bath. I'll be done shortly." Jaune commanded as he picked Weiss up and brought her to the sink. He picked up a hand cloth and started the water. He made sure the water was cold before they started, but not with out saying something to Weiss.**

**"This may sting, Snow Angel, but I promise this will be over quickly." Jaune said comforting Weiss.**

**"O-okay." Weiss sobbed out.**

"He's so careful." Velvet was gushing over Jaune's protective and caring nature.

"He already sees her like his daughter." Pyrrha had the sudden urge to run out and be _really_ brave.

**Jaune then proceeded to wash Weiss' eyes with cold water and used the hand cloth to rinse the soap out. Weiss cried out at first, but soon went silent in minutes. Jaune felt sick at her cry, he wanted to hug her and made sure nothing hurt her again. But knew he had to finish this or eyes will go bad.**

Weiss couldn't help but notice just how caring and nice he was to her. '_This is the real him, isn't it? Why didn't I see this before?_'

Alarms went of in the champion's head. She sensed competition.

Winter was glad for this Weiss. A caring father would have been a true blessing for the Schnee family of this generation. Such a shame that they were cursed with Jaques.

Though the nickname, Snow Angel, intrigued her. It was odd, unconventional…

but adorable and heartfelt.

Winter smiled. No wonder her sister wrote about him so much.

**He kept this up for fifteen minutes and then he dried Weiss' face. He then proceeded to hug Weiss.**

**"I'm so sorry. I hope I didn't hurt you too badly. Can you forgive me?" Jaune said as he looked guilty for causing his daughter discomfort.**

**"Okay daddy. I forgive you. I love you." Weiss said as she hugged Jaune with as much force as her tiny arms allowed.**

Yang just grinned at the flushing heiress. There was no chance in hell she would live this one down.

**Jaune left out a relieved sigh and looked at her once more to make sure she was okay. Once he deemed she was okay, he kissed her on top of the head and put her on the ground.**

**"Finish your shower and please be careful. I don't want you to get hurt alright." Jaune said as he looked Weiss in the eyes.**

**"Yes daddy. I'll be careful." Weiss said as she rushed to finish her bath with everyone else.**

**Jaune sighed and cursed himself for forgetting that he doesn't own kids soap and he was careless. He need to be more vigilant if he was going to take care of them. He also needed to buy them clothes and supplies to care for them better.**

"He really is going the full distance," said a rather floored Coco. "Didn't think he would be _that_ dedicated."

Johnathan laughed. "He was that way to his younger sisters as well. Changed the twins' diapers and everything."

**'Yep. A long day indeed.' Jaune sighed mentally. He looked at his children and realized just how much they mean to him and just how quickly he accepted them as his children. He smiled warmly at them and thought.**

**'But it's worth it.'**

**As soon as everyone was done washing themselves, he took them to get breakfast.**

**Jaune and his children went to the cafeteria to get breakfast. Jaune had them sit at the usual table and went to the kitchen to make them something to eat. It was still early in the morning and class wouldn't start for another hour or so.**

"Please make pancakes," Nora cheered. "Little me will be hungry! She demands it!"

"Nora," said Ren as he pulled his partner back down into the seat.

**Zwei watched over them as students were starting to come in to get breakfast. As Jaune was in the kitchen making everyone food, Team CRDL walked in. The group was talking and joking around 'til they noticed the kids. More importantly the bunny faunus.**

Alarm bells went off in the heads of everyone who knew them.

"No no no," Ruby whimpered.

"What's wrong?" Tai was growing worried.

"Don't you dare," snarled Coco. Yatsu and Fox looked ready to murder someone.

Johnathan noticed the worry and the anger, did his math...and smiled.

**"Hey Cardin. Look. It seems that bunny girl's little sister is here." Sky said to his leader as he pointed at the small group.**

**"What are little kids doing here? Better yet, what is that little animal doing acting like it's equal with humans." Cardin said with a snarl.**

"Oh no." Now Ghira and Kali realized what would be happening and braced themselves.

**"Shall we teach it a lesson?" Russell asked with a smirk.**

**"Yes. But hurry this up. I'm hungry." Cardin said as he made his way to the group of children with his team. No one seemed to notice until it was too late.**

"The fuck is his problem?!" yelled a very angry Yang. "Hurting a kid? What sick man does that?!"

**"Ow!" A voice called out in pain. All the students turned towards the cry and glared at the group of bullies that was pulling on little Velvet ears.**

**"What do you think you're doing here, freak." Cardin said with a cocky smirk.**

**"L-let me go! It hurts! Daddy!" Velvet cried out as tears were streaming from her eyes as she called for her father.**

The teachers could not be any more disappointed if they tried.

Gjira, trying to calm himself down at this disgusting display looked around and saw his old friend smiling grimly.

"John? What are you thinking?"

"You'll see," was the enigmatic answer. Tori was smiling as well.

**"Let her go you bully!" Ruby said as she was kicking Cardin's shin. Sky and Dove managed to pick Zwei up as he was caught off guard from the sudden attack to his charge.**

"Don't you hurt Zwei!" roared Weiss. She had just about enough of these brutes.

Nora was beside herself with anger, as was Ren, who ddid his best to conceal it. Pyrrha looked over to the Arcs and saw them smile.

'_Something's off._'

**"Back off. brat." Sky said as he lightly pushed Ruby away. Students all around the mess hall were getting up, ready to beat the everlasting hell to team CRDL, when they heard a monstrous roar of pure anger. But it wasn't a roar, it was someone screaming so loud and angry, that it was mistaken as a roar.**

_**"CCCCCCCCCAAAAAAARRRRRRRRDDDDDDDDDIIIIIIINNNNNN!"**_

No one spoke for a moment.

"Was that..." Yang swallowed. "Was that VB?"

"Sounds like it," was the reply from a very surprised Pyrrha Nikos. She had never seen or heard her partner this angry before.

The Arcs chuckled darkly. "Prepare for the punishment," growled a smiling John.

**"The fuck was that!?" Dove ask in fear. But before anyone could answer him, he felt a solid punch to the jaw that most likely dislocated it. He was sent flying across the room and crashed into the wall and stayed attached to said wall. **

"Whoa!" Coco was caught off-guard, the started cheering. "Yeah! You go, blondie!"

Sun laughed and cheered along. "Beat 'em up, buddy!"

"Break all the legs, Fearless Leader!" yelled Nora, eagerly awaiting the retribution.

**Sky's eyes widened in fear as he saw whatever attacked his teammate turn towards him and give a strong uppercut that knocked him out before he was launched upwards. **

"And he's outta here!" cheered the blonde brawler. Ruby was doing kung-fu noises in excitement.

**Russell tried to run away, but Zwei tackled him onto the ground and growled at him. Russell gulped in fear and could have sworn he saw the cute dog give him an evil smirk before he pounced him.**

"Ha!" Tai had taught his dog well. Though it was intended for boys who tried to get close to his daughters.

So why did his best friend buddy up to an enemy?!

Was he accepting Jaune or did he not see him as a threat?

**"W-what the fuck?!" Cardin said as he fell onto the floor on his butt and scooted backwards as he watched the 'monster' slowly made its way toward him.**

**"_I warn__ed__ you Cardin. Don't mess with my friends._" The monster said darkly. Cardin's eyes widened in shock as he finally realized who just took out his team.**

A cold shiver ran down the observers' spines. This was not the kind young man they knew.

This was an angel of vengeance.

**"_But, it seem__s you__ didn't learn last time. So here__'s__ another lesson, and learn this well Cardin. __'__Cause your life will depend on this._" Jaune said darkly as he picked Cardin up by the throat and forced him to look him straight in his eyes.**

**Cardin gulped in terror and was pissing himself as he was forced to look at Jaune.**

"Ooh yeah." Velvet was starting to get aroused by this display. This was one badass dad.

Yatsu looked at her in increasing worry.

**"_Harm a single hair on my children again. You will wish I kill__ed__ you today. So remember these words, Winch__e__s__t__er._" Jaune said as he pulled Cardin closer to his face and whispered his final words.**

"Mama likes." Yang bit her tongue soon after as Ruby looked at her in betrayal and Tai was shocked.

Where was that even coming from?!

**"_Don't. Fuck. With. My. Family._" Jaune said each word slowly, coldly that it caused Cardin to faint in fear. Jaune released the now limp body and turned toward the crying bunny faunus and picked her up in his arms.**

"Deserved!" Nora liked that display from her leader.

"You knew."

Kali had done the math. The Arcs knew how their son would react in this situation.

"Yup," Mrs Arc confirmed, unashamed. "He did the same back when Noire was bullied. One of them still has nightmares, or so I've heard."

None of his friends could believe that the guy they knew could be so volatile when his family was in danger. Yet there was the evidence.

**"Shhh. The bad people are gone now my little bunny." Jaune said soothingly.**

**" I-i w-was s-so scared." Velvet sobbed out as she clung onto Jaune's sweater.**

**"I know you were. But you handled yourself bravely until I arrived. You are my brave little huntress Velvet and I'm proud of you." Jaune said as he sat Velvet down on his lap as he sat down on the table where the rest of his children were waiting.**

"Thank you, daddy." Velvet slipped. Before fully registering what she had just said Coco already reacted by laughing her ass off.

Velvet wanted to die right now.

Yatsu was having a breakdown while others descended in incredulous laughter.

"The girl has it bad," Tori whispered excitedly to her husband. She could already see blonde bunnies running around.

**After a few minutes of letting Velvet cry on him, she finally calmed down, but was still clinging to Jaune and refused to separate from him. Also, the workers he was helping in the kitchen came and gave Jaune the food he was making for his children and everyone calmed down as Team CRDL was dragged out of the mess hall by Professor Goodwitch. When asked what happened, all the students shrugged in response. They didn't want to rat Jaune out for what he did and now held him in higher regard than before.**

"Heck yeah! That's what they get!" Ruby was annoyed, just as much as any other decent person, at the antics of that team. How they got to still be at the school could be a slip-up.

Weiss questioned how they even got here. Was Ozpin desperate? Or did they just get lucky during Initiation?

**Everyone was back to enjoying lunch, 'til Nora pulled Jaune sleeve.**

**"Yes." Jaune said as he turned to Nora.**

**"Daddy. Can you tell me what this word means?" Nora asked cutely.**

**"Whatever you want, dear." Jaune said with a soft smile.**

**"What does 'fuck' mean?" Nora ask with a tilted head. Jaune froze and many students that overheard ether burst out laughing, spit take their drinks or stared at the young girl in shock.**

**'Why me?' Jaune whimpered in his mind.**

"Probably because you said it," Tai pointed out, wincing a little. He remembered the conversation he had with Ruby about swears. It was _not_ easy.

Coco nodded numbly, still utterly dumbfounded at Jaune's outburst earlier. Where was this when Velvet was being bullied?

Or perhaps he trusted her to fend for herself?

Maybe because he didn't know her and was a target of bullying himself.

The more Coco pondered, the more she found the unassuming blonde to be actually interesting.

**(Later)**

**Jaune wasn't the brightest. He knew that. But even he is smart enough to know something is wrong when Doctor Oobleck is speaking in _normal_ speaking speed. **

A few held back giggle turned into gasps of shock when they heard Oobleck speaking at a speed that any person could understand.

"What?" the doctor inquired at the dumbfounded looks of his students and colleagues.

"You're not exactly known for being slow, Bart," snarked Qrow after taking a swig.

Bart adjusted his glasses with a huff. "Well, there are young children present."

That line of reasoning managed to both make sense and be ridiculous.

**Jaune was so shocked, he didn't even register Blake sneaking into his shirt and climb all the way to his neck and let her head out and stay there. Even Yang climbed on top of his head and giggled at the funny face her 'daddy' had on. **

Arturia really wished she had taken her scroll with her and was pouting that she couldn't-

Snap!

Her beloved husband, smiling a little smugly at his wife, had his own scroll out and was taking pictures.

"No!" Blake protested. "Delete them!"

"After sending them to me, you can delete them." 'Don't', Kali mouthed, making Mr Arc grin even more. Ruby was giggling. "You look so cute like that! Like a baby in one of those harnesses!"

The faunus ninja shrank in her seat as she heard her partner laugh a little.

**The rest of the kids were either napping(Nora, Ruby, Ren and Coco) or seemed interested and tried to listen(Weiss, Pyrrha, Velvet and Blake) and failing to understand most of it.**

"Seems about right," Coco pointed out.

"Well, can't win them all," Oobleck waved off, surprising his colleagues once more. "They are still young, after all."

**One of the others students raised his hand and waited a bit.**

**"Yes young man?" Oobleck asked as he saw the hand.**

**"Are you okay sir? You're speaking slower than your normal speed." The student asked with a worried frown.**

**"Of course I'm well. I'm just slowly speaking to let the children try and understand this work." Oobleck answered simply.**

**Jaune tried to ignore all the thankful looks toward him.**

The Oobleck in the theatre took notice. "What was that about?"

"No offense, doctor," Velvet decided to speak up. "But you speak too fast for most of us."

The man was surprised. He was certain that his students were at the level to follow him regardless of his talking speed. Perhaps he should dial it down more frequently? It could raise the class average!

Yes, there was a nice plan. The pot for best class averages would be his this year!

**"Now where were we. Ah, there we are!" Oobleck said as he looked into his textbook and found where he left off at. He then returned to his lecture without problem.**

**'It's official. My life is now stranger than it already is.' Jaune thought with a sweat drop.**

**(Later again)**

**Class had ended for the day and like he promised, he was taking his children to Vale for shopping and fun.**

**"I do hope it goes well Zwei. I wouldn't want my children getting into more trouble today." Jaune said to Zwei as he changed into his usual outfit.**

**"Bark!" Zwei responded.**

**"I hope so." Jaune responded. He then walked out to his children's shared room and saw them playing around with each other.**

**"It time to go kids." Jaune called out cheerfully.**

**"Yay! It shopping time!" Yang and Ruby cheered as they leaped into Jaune's arms. Jaune chuckled lightly and all his worries disappeared for the moment.**

Taiyang clutched his chest. "You used to do that with _me_," he whined, clearly missing these precious moments.

He was shaken out of his funk by his youngest, who hugged him tightly.

The other parents cooed at the display, wishing that their children would do that as well. Blake caught on and forced herself to go over to her parents to give them a hug. Kali hugged her back tightly, calling her her little kitten and cooing over her once again. Her daughter endured it, knowing that she had caused her parents a lot of pain. It was the least she could do.

**He had children to look after and he wouldn't let anyone hurt them again.**

**He swore on his Arc name.**

**Little did he know, someone was about to meet him in Vale. A lot of someones in fact.**

"How foreboding," chuckled Tori, fully expecting herself to show up.

**Jaune looked at himself in the mirror to make sure he had his outfit on right. **

She did not expect that. "whuh?"

"Looks like it's Halloween!" cheered Ruby.

"Why did we skip to there?" asked Coco, mildly annoyed at the shift.

"Perhaps a 'Holiday Special', if you will," offered the headmaster as explanation.

**Jaune smiled as he put his hat on. He dressed as the 5th Doctor from the Doctor Who series. He found it appropriate for two reasons. One, he was blond and had a similar hair style and two, the fifth Doctor kinds of act like a father and he acts like that himself.**

**So why not he thought.**

"Heh," Yang chuckled. "Ladykiller _does_ deserve it."

"Not bad," Coco judged. Her team rolled their eyes.

"Time to get some sweets!" Nora wanted to go trick-or-treating now, despite the holiday being months away.

**Jaune turned to Zwei, who somehow managed to make himself look like K-9.**

**"How do I look?" Jaune ask as he spread his arms to give Zwei a clearer view of his outfit.**

**"Bark!" Zwei answered with a tail wag.**

**"Good. Now let's get going. The kids are waiting." Jaune said as he made his way out of the room and across the hall to his room, which has been refitted to ensure the children's safety and comfort.**

**"Are you guys ready?" Jaune asked as he walked into the room.**

**"Yes! Now let go!" Nora squealed, excited to go trick-or-treating.**

**"Okay okay. Just let me fill my bag and we can go, okay?" Jaune asked as he prepared a bag with some supplies in case something happened. He took this chance to look at their costumes.**

**Weiss was dressed as Elsa from Frozen. She loved that movie a lot. She would spend hours watching it if she can.**

"Fitting," Yang grinned at her. "Now you can let it _snow_."

Groans all around.

**Ruby was dressed as a Pikachu. Which he found quite adorable.**

"Pi-ka-chu!" chirped Ruby in her best impression. Though she did not know what that was, it looked adorable and had an adorable name.

**Yang was dressed as Supergirl. He made sure she was wearing shorts under her skirt just in case.**

Yang preened at her costume as Tai nodded in approval of Jaune's measures.

**Nora was dressed as Barney. How she got the kiddies' version of the costume, he had no idea. Plus, her head was sticking out of the mouth.**

Nora burst into laughter, as did most of the theatre. It looked so silly!

**Blake was dressed as Naruto. He was sure Kakashi would have been more fitting since the two read smut. Ninja of love is smut, he should know, his mother wrote it.**

Now everyone looked at Arturia, who just giggled.

"Bwuh?" Blake was at a loss for words. The author of her favorite book series was Jaune's mother?!

"Yes," she confirmed. "It was quite fun! Though I did have help."

"Help?" whispered the smut lover. "From whom?"

The woman winked at her. "Here's a hint: The pen name 'Apajal' consists of two monograms."

Blake's mind went to work. She would need to do research. Two of the A's would be Arturia Arc. But what about the p, the j, a, l?

**Velvet decided to dress as Jaune, which almost brought tears to his eyes out of joy.**

Tori couldn't help herself and charged Velvet to give her a hug as Coco was torn between laughing herself sick and cooing over the adorableness of her teammate.

Pyrrha recognized the bunny as her greatest opponent.

The bunny was both flushin and confused at the sudden hug.

**Coco dressed like a supermodel. Jaune wasn't really surprised at that.**

The fashionista confirmed it by simply nodding. "And don't I look good."

**Pyrrha was dressed as an angel. He gave Pyrrha a hug at how sweet and innocent she looked.**

The spartan blushed and preened. Perhaps she should get herself such a costume?

**Ren dressed as Batman. Jaune smiled as he remembered how shy Ren was when he asked to dress as Batman.**

"Rennie looks so cool, but soooo cuuuute!" Nora was gushing all over the nervous little tyke that was her Rennie. The man himself chuckled as he blushed a bit.

**"Are you done yet?!" Yang asked impatiently.**

**"Yes my little Supergirl, I'm done." Jaune said as he patted Yang's head.**

"Wha-" Tai was speechless. That had never been allowed!

"I-" Yang was dumbfounded. No one touches the hair, so how?

"Teach me your ways," whispered Ruby.

**"Yay! Let's go daddy!" Ruby cheered out with a happy shout.**

**Jaune chuckled as he followed his children out of the room. Zwei's tail wagged happily as he followed Ruby with just as much gusto.**

**(Later)**

**Jaune and children were trick-or-treating, having a good time with each other. Jaune tried to ignore the strange stares. He understood it was strange for a teenager with multiple children is strange, but no need to give such judgmental stares!**

"Good luck with that." Qrow took a swig. "You're a teen dad with nine kids, so deal with it."

Mrs Arc wanted to answer, but then thought about it. He was not wrong, exactly.

**Jaune just sighed and ignored it. He stopped at a park and let his children play around there for awhile. After all, he still had a father's duty to do. Plus, these people weren't worth worrying about. It was his children he worried about. If he didn't find a way to turn them back soon, then they will grow up with a lot of people making up stuff about how he managed to have many children, and knowing how stupid people can act, it won't be pretty.**

**"Daddy." Ren said as cut in his thoughts.**

**"Yes?" Jaune replied as he looked at Ren.**

**"Are you okay?" Ren asked with a frown.**

**"Yes. Just thinking is all. Nothing you need to worry about." Jaune replied as he patted Ren's head softly.**

**"Okay daddy." Ren said as he gave Jaune a happy smile and ran back to others.**

**And just like that Jaune's worries vanished.**

"He cares a lot, doesn't he?" observed Glynda.

"That's Jaune for you!" Ruby confirmed, proud of having him as her friend.

Nora was giggling at a flushing Ren about calling Jaune 'daddy'.

**"I'm just overthinking things. It will turn out fine in the end. Just need to keep up hope and keep moving forward.' Jaune thought as he watched his children trade their candy with each other.**

**"Daddy! Come on!" Weiss called out.**

**"We still have more candy to get!" Yang finished happily.**

**"Okay okay. Just a few more houses and back home we go, got it?" Jaune said as he got off the porch he was sitting on.**

**"Awww," They all whined at the same time.**

**"Come now. You know your mothers are waiting for you guys at home. So we should hurry and meet up with them." Jaune said with a smile.**

Again, everyone had to pause to comprehend what had just been said. "Mother_s_?" Tori repeated before grinning like a loon and laughing and dancing throughout the theatre.

"And off she goes," John commented blithely, making Ghira chuckle.

Pyrrha's mind started churning as Weiss was yelling about shamelessness. Mothers? As in, Jaune having more than one wife? It was shameless, sinful!

But…

Why was it so appealing? Seeing him, or imagining him, with others while not giving her so much as a glance would hurt, yes. But if she were to have his heart, or at least a portion of it?

The thought excited her like nothing else. It felt tantalizing; the image of her Jaune giving his love, sharing it with others fortunate enough to grab his attention, while returning, always returning, to her at last.

She would need to talk to Velvet and Ruby.

"Lucky," Neptune muttered under his breath.

**"Yes daddy!" They cheered out happily at the mention of their mothers.**

**"Good. Now let finish trick-or-treating!" Jaune cheered as he lead them back to the houses.**

**"Yeah!" They cheered once more.**

**Jaune stop briefly and looked at the screen. He smiled and winked, then left with his children and partner in crime Zwei.**

"Wait, what?" Sun did a double take. "Did he see us?"

"Probably just a gag." Qrow blithely commented, though he was not so sure, what with the theatre's nature.

"Now then," Ruby said before looking around. She had a close eye on the doors, watching if any of them opened. None did.

"Time for another one!"


	5. Chapter 5

**Oh hello!**

**Aleadrex was a goddamn genius, writing such a monumental masterpiece. Shame they don't seem to be around anymore.**

**That's right, ladies, gents and diverse, here we have "Arc of the Revolution"! Particularly, my most favorite chapter of them all!  
**

**Disclaimer: RWBY belongs to Rooster Teeth and Monty Oum. "Arc Of The Revolution" was written by Aleadrex.**

**Enjoy!**

The strange library

chapter 5: Metal Fucking Gear

Aka HYPE TRAIN!

"I want to see more of those dating show episodes," Coco began.

Velvet, eyebrow raised, asked: "Why is that?"

"Just looked to be fun."

"Well," Yang raised her voice. "I want to watch some of that Kung Fu thing."

"Yes!" Ruby jubilated. "I wanna see Jaune go all 'Hachaaa!'" She made more noises along with the poses to match. Pyrrha, rather nervous at this point, rose the intriguing DVD case with the Happily Ever After before being interrupted.

"We've seen quite a few humorous videos," Blake stated. Her eyes betrayed no excitement, despite the fact that she was just recently ready to run and hide in embarrassment. "Though I would prefer something more serious this time around." She jerked her thumb to Velvet, who raised her own DVD for emphasis.

Tai smiled a little. "I needed this, I think. Just a friendly movie night, err, day, to cool off."

Ozpin couldn't help himself and smirked at Glynda. "Quite. We did find out some interesting things on the way."

Velvet deflated a bit at those words. They made it sound like they didn't have enough time for her own pick today. Though her expression rose again when Tori said those words.

"Well, we could get your pick and then, well, who else has a pick?" She nodded at the mother of her crush, slightly happy with that suggestion. At that, Blake just showed her own, "Dreaming Of A Happily Ever After".

"Sounds good to me," Qrow concurred. "What of you, Ice Queen, Glynda?"

Kali grinned back at her and went "She has no choice here." Which made the teacher frown.

Winter merely harrumphed and stated: "I have some time for leisure today. I certainly do not mind this...'movie night'."

At the way she said those words, the others just stared at her. "Wait," Ruby inquired. "You had no movie nights whatsoever?" Winter just shook her head.

"Well, we'll fix this!" And with that, she grabbed the DVD and placed it in the slot.

Wonder where the discarded DVDs went?

**Last time on "Arc of the Revolution"…**

"Shit! Again?" Coco cursed.

"Sorry," Velvet mumbled.

John just shrugged. "Well, that's what the recap is for."

"**I didn't make it to Beacon!"**

Team (J)NPR and RWBY as well as Velvet and Sun all jerked forward in their seat. "What?!"

"Oh dear," Ozpin mumbled. He wondered why his other self didn't take him in despite the potential.

Nora was somewhat saddened to hear of this. "Do you think life at Beacon would be the same without Jaune?"

At that question, everyone pondered. Their friend was a constant by now; hell, he was the glue that kept Team JNPR together and bridged the gap between Nora and Ren and Pyrrha. He was Ruby's first friend at Beacon and her first guy friend. Yang found that imagining Beacon without Vomit Boy around was a little more dull, as did Blake.

Velvet was just disheartened outright, while Weiss was conflicted. Sure, his flirtations were unwarranted, but he had been an emotional crutch towards Ruby while she was still stuck in 'Schnee Mode', as Yang had christened her behavior at the start of the year.

Beacon without him, the general consensus was, was not quite the same.

"**You're an Arc?" Kaz asked.**

"**You're terrorists."**

"The White Fang?" Blake was alarmed.

"Wonder what they want him him," Tai pondered. Tori, over on her part of the theater, was fuming. They better not be harming her baby boy.

**The screen changed from scene to scene, interlocking the exchanges.**

**The next pictures on the screen were seen on a scroll. Faunus in an impoverished medical ward, most dead, others alive. All of them showed injuries stemming from handling raw Dust.**

**Others showed torture of faunus workers. It visibly sickened Jaune, who looked to a faunus in sunglasses.**

Worry and sadness turned to shock, disgust and anger at those pictures. "Good Monty Oum..." Bart whispered.

"This..." Winter shook her head. "This can't be…Why hasn't anyone been stopping this?!"

Blake turned to the specialist with a complicated expression. "Most likely because the Atlas council was bought by your father to ignore this."

Ghira snarled at the picture fluttering by, all of them showing severe injuries. "This is what I protested against. This is what I wanted to stop!" He was stopped by John laying his hand on his shoulder in support, making the panther faunus breathe in and out slowly. Kali was shedding tears in silence and sympathy for the poor souls.

The children didn't fare quite better. Weiss was utterly disgusted by her father, who so readily allowed this for the sake of profit. She could now see just why so many faunus were angry at the Schnees and joined the White Fang.

Ruby hid in her cloak while Yang hugged her close, Blake just pulled her legs to her chest while Nora, whimpering, sought comfort with Ren. Pyrrha just looked to the screen in sadness.

"**Why...why all this?"**

"**Camp Omega is a mining facility."**

Winter shot up at the mention of that name. "Camp Omega?!"  
"You know that name?" Ghira inquired. The specialist hesitated at first before admitting to the Camp's ultimate fate: It had been overrun by Grimm some months ago.

The people in the theatre grieved for the lives lost to the greed of a single man.

**The screen cut to the middle of Atlas, viewing the fortified Camp Omega.**

**Jaune, side by side with White Fang, went in to liberate the inmates of the labor camp. He had donned their armor as well, to signify his allegiance, even if it was temporary.**

The people perked up, Blake in disbelief and Nora in a fierce feeling of satisfaction.

"Ha! Liberating the prisoners! That's our Fearless Leader!"

"That makes no sense," mumbled Blake. "The White Fang are mostly Anti-Human. Why would they…?"

"Perhaps they owe him?" Coco suggested.

"Well, we should see in this viewing," Velvet chimed in before adding: "Or at least we can piece it together..."

**The scene cut to Winter Schnee in a command center, overseeing the defense against a sudden Grimm attack on the screen and witnessing a whole strike team go dark.**

"**Deploy White-One."**

The people looked to their own Winter Schnee, who paled at seeing herself in charge of the labor camp. "That can't be..." she breathed. "I-I'm certain that I have no knowledge of the situation for the workers within this camp, otherwise..."

"It is quite alright," Ozpin calmed her. "We may just potentially see you teaming up with Mister Arc."

**Connected to a mighty torso, bereft of a head, armed with missiles, gatling guns, sensors and other instruments of death, standing upright on two great legs stood a colossus of metal within a recently shaped hole.**

**It was unpainted, its metal a cold gray; the robot stood like a man, a warrior, a king.**

**As it shifted its fist to a large, dark cannon, Jaune was reminded of figures from old stories, that of noble, chivalrous knights believed to be holy, sworn to an ancient sovereign before the establishment of the kingdoms.**

**"Metal Gear," Kaz spoke.**

**"Paladin." Jaune had uttered.**

**"Automated Battlesuit." Gaston remarked.**

**"Damn." Melanie had whispered.**

**"Shit." Miltiades had cried.**

"Wait," Yang started before falling silent. Sure, the twins being there was odd. What business did the have there? But first things first-

Ruby squealed at a frequency that made faunus ears hurt. She was kicking her legs up and down in excitement and the walking mountain of armor and weaponry, the likes of which she hadn't seen even against Torch...wick…

Ah crap.

Ruby deflated. "He has to fight that," she just numbly stated.

"I hope he got out of there," Tori panicked, Pyrrha close behind her in that department, wishing him safe.

Velvet now recognized the metal monster she saw on the cover as that gigantic thing. She was equal parts excited and worried now. What would happen?

**Laser sights red as blood flared from its body, lighting up the cold darkness of night like malevolent stars. It turned its feet, body and arm-cannons to face them, the groan of the metal almost sounding like an inhuman groan.**

**Looking down at its enemies like an angry god; the Atlesian Paladin-290 had roared its dominance.**

"Why is it roaring?!" Most people were unnerved by that, but none more than Tai. Machines were not supposed to roar like that!

**The scene changed to various scenes where the Paladin chased Jaune and the soldiers alongside Melanie and Miltiades Malachite through the camp. They goaded the heavy mech towards a trap with explosive barrels, setting them off and causing a massive explosion. Most of its weaponry was melted to slag save for two cannons. It's cockpit was blown open, revealing a cushy seat within.**

**It had stopped moving.**

"Whoa! Hell yeah, Vomit Boy!"

The whole theatre was now filled with cries of jubilation, seeing the compilation of the machine monster getting wrecked.

Winter, meanwhile, found herself conflicted. It was undoubtedly a prototype, meaning that its presence, as well as hers, had been approved by the military and thusly okayed by the council in the first place. This either meant that the council itself was unaware of these practices or her father dared to bribe them into keeping quiet.

She didn't like either insinuation. Awash in a room full of happy cries, she was the only one frowning.

**The scene shifted once more, revealing Winter Schnee with weapon drawn advancing towards Jaune amidst celebrating the defeat of the Paladin.**

"**Snow Angel..." Jaune whispered dreamily.**

Weiss paled considerably. "Is he serious?!" she yelled.

"Oh my go-ho-hod!" Yang howled. "This is great!"

Pyrrha, silently fuming, grumbled to herself: "Wonder if he would have fallen for me if he saw me first..."

Nobody noticed Winter herself blushing, just a little. _No one _had ever called her anything like that. It was, dare she think it, endearing.

**Only for Winter to attack him mercilessly, ultimately overpowering him and curbstomping his face.**

The collective audience winced.

"What the hell!" raged Tori.

"Tori," chided her husband. "She sees him as an enemy right now, so naturally she would attack."

The mother sat back down, somewhat pacified but still fuming.

The general tension in the audience had risen once again.

**Though he fell through the floor into a cavern below, right into a mountain of mechanical parts, where he inexplicably found Penny, but without both her legs and an arm.**

"**Salutations! My name is Penny, it's a pleasure to meet you."**

"**Am I your friend?"**

"**Umm… yes?"**

**Her eyes started to glow green as she gave him a deranged grin.**

"**_Sensational._"**

"Wh-" Sun started, only for his voice to fail him.

"Who needs sleep anyway?" Neptune joked.

"That was fucking creepy!" screeched, most unexpectedly, Coco. Yatsu turned to her with a little worry before turning to the surprised people. "She is not good with horror," he explained. Everyone else agreed, with Ruby shuffling in her seat nervously.

"Wonder how Penny would react to this," mumbled Yang numbly.

Oobleck was following every single movement. Somehow, this particular movie captured his attention in full.

**Another scene change, this time with Winter fighting the twins. They had no hope of beating her, until the screen revealed Jaune piloting the remains of the Paladin with Penny's help.**

**Jaune Arc, White Fang Raid Leader and Hero Wannabe, smug, shit-eating grin set on his face, lounged triumphantly on the Paladin's cockpit as if it were some sort of throne; moonlight shining on him as if it were a theater spotlight.**

**["I always knew I'd take your breath away."]**

The boxer burst out laughing as the Arcs giggled a little. "That's my boy," John laughed as Tori giggled while Weiss just groaned and put her face into her hands.

While three girls were fuming, Winter herself blushed a little harder. '_I only heard about him through Weiss. I wonder..._'

**Now the scene changed to Winter, the Pennydin and Jaune, along with Mel and Mil sitting in the cockpit, surrounded by White Fang and all of them facing a large army of Grimm.**

**["I am combat ready!"]**

**[Brainchild of Atlas finest, born of nature's wrath crystallized, guided by the limitless spirit of humanity, and made of the flesh of Remnant herself; with harsh, guttural tones, and the gnashing of metal on metal, the Paladin faced extinction made manifest, and roared defiance.]**

The boys – that is, Tai, Sun, Neptune, John, Peter and Bart roared along in excitement. Nora yelled as well, being filled with hype, as did Ruby.

"Oh, that is so cool!" Yang was vibrating in her seat.

"I'm excited as well," Blake admitted, still wondering how the White Fang got to know Jaune.

**So we went to Vale to go hide in them slums after the Red Bitch attacked Adam right? Well, that dude who calls himself Kaz started recruiting like crazy for some fucking insane op up goddamn brokeback mountain.**

The audience was briefly confused, just as Oobleck exclaimed: "Incredible!"

Port looked at his colleague in confusion. "What is it?"

"I-this is-" the doctor had difficulty finding the right words. "Stupendous! This is witnessing another perspective on the events, like a historical document! We are- we are watching history in the _making_!" He trembled, breathed heavily as the others looked on in various states of confusion and worry.

"This is...weird."

**Me and the rest of the guys were about to ignore it, but my stupid little brother steps up and joins the damn suicide mission.**

**Idiot.**

**Of course I had to fucking come along.**

Yang looked slightly to Ruby before mumbling: "Been there." Shame that Velvet, Blake and Sun overheard.

"What do you mean?" asked the monkey, making the blonde glare at him and drew general attention.

She just looked towards Ruby with a playful glare. "Guess who had to play accomplice whenever little miss cookie lover wanted to sneak some snacks after dinner."

Qrow snorted as Tai looked wistful. "Yeah, that was pretty fun; seeing you two sneak around as if we couldn't see you hidden under the blanket."

Tai laughed as his daughters blushed. "You two were lucky Summer thought it was cute." Blake giggled, only to be embarrassed herself as Weiss spoke up.

"And what are you laughing about?" she inquired. "Didn't we have to chase after you when you just _ had _to investigate the White Fang?"

More than a few parental eyes narrowed in disapproval at Weiss' slip-up. She herself noticed only a good few seconds after, making her blush.

"We will talk about your _adventures_ later," promised Winter with an icy tone, making her sister flinch.

**Was weird as hell though. When we got there, the base was empty, except for one strong-ass robot we heard Group A beat the shit out of.**

**Base was still empty even with all the damned noise we were making, and while we got the laborers up the airships, we were all wonderin' why. We'd even ran into a few soldiers who were from the Atlas Fuckin' Military who were running up north like bitches. What the flying fuck was going on?**

"How crass," chided Goodwitch, ever the disciplinarian.

"In my experience," Port chimed in. "Those who curse more tend to be more honest."

"Not universally applicable," noted the historian. "But there is a definite tendency."

**We soon found out though, when a Goddamned GOLIATH pulls off a Jaune Arc and busts right through the goddamned 30 fucking feet high walls roaring and spraying spittle on everyone.**

The students had to laugh. "'Pull of a Jaune Arc'?" Yang repeated between laughs. "What's that? Puking all over?"

"Yang!" chided Ruby. "That was _one time_!"

As her sister looked reasonably chastised, recognizing that that remark had been a bit shitty, Ruby asked the same question herself.

"Maybe it means bursting through a wall," Neptune supplied.

The logic was there, but why oh why was it referred to as a 'Jaune Arc'?

**I screamed.**

**My buddies screamed.**

**The laborers screamed.**

**The security guards screamed.**

**The Atlesian Soldiers that were flooding in like headless chickens screamed, before they went back to deciding whether to shoot us or the fucking Grimm.**

"We all scream for ice cream~" Yang punned to the general dismay of the others present.

**"White Fang?!" they fucking screamed.**

**"Motherfuckers!" I screamed back.**

**Bullets went flying, everyone was shooting everyone. No one knew what the fuck was going on. I got one Atlesian dipshit in a chokehold while I was shooting goddamned beowolves. Beowolves, man!**

**Fuck that Atlesian though, he called my dad a dog-fucker.**

Winter shook her head. "It is a shame that racism is so pervasive in Atlas. My father certainly doesn't help matters."

Ghira grumbled in sympathy for the author's anger. "And some of them wonder why the White Fang today is so hateful against Atlas..."

**Shit had hit the fan. The Grimm had completely gone through our perimeter, and Kaz's group had gone balls to the wall trying to stop them from getting to the airships.**

**I'd... I'd honestly thought that was fucking it for us.**

**The Goliath stampeded forward, leading the horde of beowolves and ursae straight through our messed up ranks. Nevermore covered the night sky, blotting out the moon and the stars.**

**We wore white, we were the damn White Fang, and the Atlesians wore shiny silver armor too, and the snow was white. White was being eaten up by black. They started to cover us like maggots and flies on rotting meat, inching and wriggling closer, and closer, and fucking closer!**

Ruby hid in her cloak. "Please be okay, please be okay..."

"Dunce," grumbled her partner. "That man wrote a book about this, of course they survive this!"s

**Then a star lit up in the blackness, right behind all the damned Grimm.**

**I stopped to look.**

**The guy I had in a chokehold stopped to look.**

**Everyone stopped to look.**

**The Grimm were mid-attack and even they stopped to look.**

**The star grew bigger, and I realized I got the strangest feelin' of deja vu.**

**It was no star, I knew.**

**Grimm turned back to look, only to be knocked aside by a humongous shining white metal arm.**

**Hah, everyone knows the story by now, eh?**

**Jaune Motherfuckin' Arc was BACK, baby, and from the look of it, he was pissed.**

**Fuck, He just sat there on the open-air, unarmored, exposed cockpit of a fucking fuckhueg fighting robot almost the size of his DICK, holy shit!**

At first, the viewers were stunned. How and who, exactly, managed to make the Grimm stop? And how did they generate such a light?

Then the line 'Jaune Motherfucking Arc' hit and the theatre was awash with fresh laughter and amazement.

"That is not his middle name," John brought out between giggles.

While Nora laughed about the word 'fuckhueg', Pyrrha and Velvet blushed at the refernce to the size of his penis.

Then they saw the two tramps huddled up to him and glared.

Ren had to stifle his laughter at the whole phrase. It was a one-two-three between the implied middle name, the made-up and seemingly intentionally misspelled word and the size reference. Yang had no such reservations.

**Like, he didn't even give a shit that his cockpit – oh, I'm sorry, his pimp chair had no armor. He stretched his arms wide like he was daring all the Grimm in the world to come fuck with him and he wouldn't even consider it an actual threat to his life.**

**We didn't doubt that for a second. He sat on that cockpit like a fucking BOSS, legs spread wide, leaning back into the seat. Shit, that was probably the only way he could actually sit down so he wouldn't crush his gigantic motherfucking dust-augmented power balls of steel. Guy probably needed a wheelbarrow just to walk around.**

Glynda frowned at how crass the author was at describing her student. Ozpin couldn't stop his grin at the obvious hero worship that the young man was at the receiving end of.

Does one even need to point out who was blushing?

Yes?

Okay. Velvet, Pyrrha, Ruby and Winter- wait what?

**Oh, and did I mention he had these sexy-ass brunette girls in the cockpit with him, clinging to each of his legs? Can't forget that. They were twins, man. Twins they were!**

**He. had. twins. on. his. legs. like. a. Vacuoan. Pimp. **

**Shit, man. Forget Adam. At least Boss Jaune actually got laid.**

Kali burst out laughing as Tori sputtered at the pimp moniker. "That's my boy!" howled the proud father as he laughed himself sick.

Blake blushed furiously at the reference to Adam's sex life, which had briefly been shared with her. He was passionate, but demanding, and the quality declined over time.

**All the fucking Grimm in the place tried to jump him like the punk-ass, edgy, teenage cunt-wannabes they were, and his robot was just swatting them aside like wimps!**

**Jaune just looked irritated. Irritated, man. Like he was wondering why the fuck he went along only to have motherfuckers bleed on his pretty white cloak.**

**How the fuck was he doing it?! He didn't even have his hands on the controls!**

**-Wolfe Grey, Journal of a White Fang Mook, Chapter 2**

Blake knew that name, if only briefly in passing. It was odd how someone she knew had basically been worshiping the ground the resident dork was walking on.

"So Robo-Penny connected to the Paladin?" concluded Sun.

"Astute Observation," noted a baffled Yatsuhashi. Coco was howling with laughter at the general description.

Nora pointed to the screen. "There's another!"

**Thus spoke Jaune Arc, Master of Machine and Mankind, to the Paladin, in his infinite wisdom and mercy, saying, "Machine, Heal Thyself."**

**Lo, despite the hubris and defiance of the Paladin, its blessed wires and consecrated metal flesh had begun healing themselves, growing like new flesh.**

**Placing the sword on the Paladin's shoulders and head, so it was, that The Master had ushered in the rebirth of the Paladin.**

Peopel were looking at those lines, listening to them, with slackjawed expressions.

"what…?" was all Weiss had to say.

"So..." Fox tried. "Does that mean that there are people who worship him like a god? Master of Machine and Mankind and whatnot?"

stopped working for a bit while Nora was cheering. "He's king of the castle~"

**"Henceforth," spoke the Master, "Thou shalt be called Ferrum Mors, for upon thine Iron shalt I smite assholes and douchebags to Death."**

If Yang had been drinking at that moment, she would have spat it out. "What?" she got out in incredulous laughter.

"Sophisticated as fuck," Arturia supplemented, making some giggle.

**Ferrum Mors wept at the honor, sacred lube leaking from its blessed machine-eyes.**

**So it came to pass that Ferrum Mors and its brethren had abandoned the Vile Schnee, and served The True Master for the rest of their days.**

**-N. Gene Seere, Omnissiah**

The Schnees in the theatre were insulted at being referred to as vile, but soon remembered that that part was Jacques' fault.

"That doesn't seem probable," Glynda pointed out, referring to the newly christened Ferrum Mors crying.

Oobleck piped up once more. "This could be a reference to propaganda or willful alteration and mystification of actual events. Some fairy tales hold a kernel of truth after all."

The breaths of Ozpin and Qrow hitched.

**Hei Xiong Junior was muttering curses about stupid, well-endowed, ball-crushing, crotch-grabbing blondes as another applicant left the room.**

**Like, shit, it still hurt to walk.**

The referenced well-endowed blonde chuckled nervously while her father gave her a stink eye. Glynda questioned the headmaster's methods again, wondering how a girl with anger issues as obvious as that was allowed further education as a huntress. Sure, she had potential to do good, but it mostly manifested in property damage nowadays.

"What did she do?" Coco asked.

"Grabbed him by the balls, apparently," replied the MatriArc, causing her to snort.

**With his club, The Club, in tatters yet again, Junior decided it was a good time to actually get more capable muscle on his staff. The Twins were literally the only capable people he had. The goons? Honestly speaking, when he started, he didn't exactly have much in the way of clean money, so he simply hired neighborhood toughs who had their auras unlocked to save on cash.**

**With a sigh, he massaged his temples. As his establishment grew larger, so too did the kinds of clientele he began to cater to. Suddenly, before he knew it, The Club was one of the hottest places in town to be, complete with all the bullshit such places were wont to attract.**

**Damn millennials selling drugs where everyone could see em. **

**Not only did he have to fucking convince the cops that he had nothing to do with it, he also had to convince them that he wasn't goddamned retarded enough to do that in the open.**

**He retired from the business, thank you very much. Now, he was simply a legitimate club owner and morally questionable information broker.**

**An upstanding Valean citizen, really.**

**Fuck, he needed some sleep.**

**Junior turned a lazy eye up at his latest applicant, who had already apparently entered and finished speaking without him noticing. This one was the same as the rest, just another thug who got his aura unlocked and thought that made him a big man.**

**Junior simply waved him off and spouted the usual bullshit of "Gee, thanks man. I'll take your application under consideration. Wait for my call."**

**As soon as the glorified thug left, almost automatically, Junior took the resume and credentials and unceremoniously dropped them into the conveniently hidden shredder by the side of his desk.**

"You are very lucky that those you harmed had their aura unlocked, Miss Xiao Long," Glynda hissed in disapproval, making her student shrink into her seat. Tai rubbed his brow at his daughter's antics.

"Why would he just do that?" Ruby asked, pointing to the shredded application.

Ozpin sighed. "Employers are in their right to do so with unsuited applicants, even if it is ratehr impolite." His gaze met silver orbs. "That is disregarding their legitimacy in whatever business they operate."

**Another day, another waste of time. Where and how the actual fuck Roman Torchwick secured the services of little Miss Neopolitan, Junior would kill to know.**

"You and me both," grumbled a still sore blonde.

**Not bothering to stifle a yawn, Junior bid the next applicant, the last one of the day, into his office.**

**Junior raised an eyebrow as his last applicant, a girl, entered the room.**

**She was... unusually dressed. She had simple, short brown hair that reached her shoulders, and matching brown eyes and brown skin. Yellow armored knee-high boots, matching shoulderplate and bracer worn with a simple outfit of cotton and simple leather over a toned body.**

Both the jaws of Ozpin and Qrow dropped to the ground. The girl on the screen was none other than Amber Autumn, the Fall Maiden who was currently in a coma. Tai saw the flabbergasted expression on his friend's face and wondered if…

"You know her?"

The dusty old crow whipped to the older blonde, his jaw snapping shut. "Yeah, she's currently in a coma. Weird, seeing her walk around." Tai nodded and left it at that.

**Most striking, however, was the collapsible staff she held, and the way her eyes roamed over Junior's rather extravagant office, scanning the area for threats.**

**A huntress, or a huntress-in-training, Junior realized. He had to stop himself from smirking and offering the job to her then and there. Things never went this well for him, what was the catch?**

**"Good evening," the girl had greeted, voice serious and confident.**

**"Evenin'," Junior greeted back, "You here for the job?"**

**"Actually, no," spoke the girl, surprising the big man, "I'm here looking for someone."**

**Junior twitched.**

**Tell me where I can find her/him, Blondie had said, and I'll let you go.**

**No, no. Those two crazy blondes had to be special cases, outliers. This one had to have some semblance of sanity, right? Besides, this one wasn't blonde!**

"Wait, two?" Yang was certain she had been the only one. Nora caught on immediately.

"She must be referring to Jaune!" she exclaimed, only to bring up more questions. As in, what the hell did _he_ do?

**"A client, then," Junior remarked, "Who is it you're looking for?"**

**The girl's light brown eyes met his, and she produced a photograph from her packs, and handed it to him.**

**Carefully receiving the obviously precious picture, Junior took hold of it and slowly brought it up to his face only to see –**

**"Lady," ground out Junior, "Are you fucking with me?"**

**The girl's eyebrows rose in affront, "Excuse me?!"**

**Junior shoved the picture back in her face.**

**"This is a horse!" Junior bit out, "Are you saying my establishment serves animals or something?"**

**The girl met Junior's mean glare with one of hers.**

**"If the videos on the internet are true, then yes I am saying this sty is fit only for animals!" she exclaimed, showing him a scroll opened to a video file.**

**Taking a quick glance at the scroll, Junior saw that apparently viral video of Jaune Arc's horse drinking beer out of a trough a couple nights ago.**

**Oh, that.**

Now there were even more questions. Why did Jaune steal a horse? Why was it drinking in front of Junior's club? Why was it drinking beer?

**That was a nice gimmick, he got some good business because of that. There were lots of city folk in Vale who've never seen horses in their lives, and a lot came by to see it. Still, horse wasn't there in the morning. Didn't Jaune bring the horse with him when he went off on that White Fang thing?**

**"Horse isn't for sale," Junior crossed his arms, voice gruff. Even if the it were still there, no friggin' way would he sell a friend's horse to some random bimbo. He had standards.**

**Then there was the fact that doing so would piss off his employer.**

**"That horse is mine!" screamed the girl, tentatively designated as Brownie. Junior raised a bushy eyebrow, was it just him or did her eyes glow orange for a little while there.**

"He stole the horsey!" Nora squealed. "I didn't know he had it in him!"

Blake was astounded, Yang guffawed once more and Coco whistled. She didn't know the guy had it in him, either; he seemed as innocent as they come.

Then again, it's always the quiet ones...

**"Horse. isn't. for. sale," Junior slowly intoned, every word rife with the promise of violence.**

**To his surprise, instead of cowering, the girl merely chuckled at his face.**

**"I didn't want to have to do this," the girl smiled coyly, eyes still narrowed dangerously, "But you leave me no other option."**

**Slowly, Junior's hands went to his club, stashed under the desk.**

**The girl leaned forward, and she spoke.**

**"I'm the Fall Maiden."**

…

While the Ozlumminati members were shocked at the blatant admission, the others were quite skeptical.

"Maiden?" Velvet asked.

"Like the fairy tale?" Pyrrha continued.

"So she's touched in the head?" Weiss inquired.

"She's all nuts!" Nora concurred. "No wonder Jauney took the horsey away from her!"

"But..." Ruby chimed in. "Stealing is still wrong."

"So is causing property damage and physical harm towards civilians, yet the headmaster is still letting them all attend Beacon."

The audience looked at Glynda, right before Kali burst into laughter. "Now there's the Glyndie we know and love!"

"Shush, you."

**"Riiiight," Junior drawled mockingly, "And I'm one of the Two Brothers."**

**Yeah, fuck this. Girl was a nutjob, thought fairy tales were real. Nope. Junior totally had enough of this bullshit.**

**The girl was taken aback in surprise, "Wha –"**

**"What's next," Junior's face grew into a mocking smile, "The Red Hood's your friend and she's waiting outside? You're best buds with Snow White? You're cell-mates with The Beauty and the Beast in the mental hospital?"**

For some indiscernible reason Ruby, Weiss and Blake felt vaguely insulted, while Yang felt oddly left out.

**The girl merely stared at him, mouth agape.**

**"Ohhh, I get it. One of those ancient Mistralian heroes was actually a woman, and you're like, her mentor or something."**

**"How dare you?!" Amber screamed, hand reaching out for her staff. She didn't want to cause undue harm to this person or his property, she wasn't a maniac, but if he proved to be dangerous…**

**Junior brandished his club threateningly before she could bring out her weapon.**

**"No one's grabbing my balls today, get out." the big man said. It was not a request.**

**Amber had taken a deep breath. Collecting one of her last pictures of her dear horse Albus, she strode out the suffocating office with nary a look back.**

**God, she thought, Everyone in Vale was an asshole.**

"Takes one to know one~" sang Kali.

"What a voice," Neptune swooned, but was quickly silenced by an angry slap from Sun. He did not want to make Blake's dad angry in any way.

**As she was about to leave the Club, Junior jeered at her from above, "Give Rapunzel my regards, Fall Maiden!"**

**Content with claiming the last word, Junior relaxed into his fancy chair and poured himself a strong drink.**

**Savoring the burning sensation on his throat, he took a deep breath. Yeah, she was a nutjob, but he definitely could've handled that better. He'd just gotten so used to the Twins nudging him and giving him signals when he was going overboard.**

**Junior took a sip of the fine alcohol.**

**Where were those two?**

Sun snickered. "Off to Atlas, running around with Jaune and fighting mechs..." Then he frowned. "Dammit, that sounds cool."

"Robots are cool," Tai concurred with a sagely nod.

**Junior had never pegged himself for the kind of man that would eventually settle down, but goddamn it, he missed his girls. They'd been with each other through thick and thin. They were like, the little sisters he never had, no wait, even further than that. They were daughters in all but name. They were family.**

Now Yang felt genuinely bad about thrashing him and his bar.

**Junior stared at the empty glass, and tentatively reached for the bottle, knowing something was off but not realizing what it was exactly.**

**Oh, right. Twins would've stopped him, teased him, then stored away the drink by now. Junior sighed, and put the bottle away.**

**Wherever those two were, he hoped they were safe.**

"Yeah, no chance," Fox snarked, eliciting a snort from Coco.

**"Oh fuck me," breathed Miltiades Malachite.**

"Transition," yelled Nora appropriately.

**Melanie Malachite was snapping pictures with abandon, her scroll slick with cold sweat.**

**As soon as he had seen the Grimm surround them, Jaune Arc climbed into the Paladin's cockpit, quickly offering his hands to the shocked sisters. Melanie smiled gratefully and took Jaune's hand as he pulled her in, and while Miltiades scoffed, eventually, she relented and took his hand as well.**

Three girls glared at the hussies fawning over 'her' man.

**"Salutations!" spoke Penny, remarkably chipper for a robot girl torso stuffed under the controls and who had just recently gained sentience and turned against her makers. "Are you Friend Jaune's friends?"**

The fashionista sank into her seat at the sight. "Still so freaky."

"no shit," quipped Qrow as he drank from his flask.

**Miltiades nearly fell out of the mech in shock, while Melanie Malachite just looked at Jaune as if she was about to ask something, opened her mouth, then promptly gave up, flinging her hands in the air.**

"She seems used to it," giggled Kali as Tori smiled. She idly wondered if these two knew her boy actually.

**"Yes, Penny. They are," Jaune smiled immaculately at Penny, before turning to the Twins, "I'll explain later, I swear."**

**Turning back to Penny, Jaune whispered, "How much energy does the Paladin still have left?"**

**Voice still cheerful beyond belief, Penny smiled, "The Paladin's Dust Cells still have 30% remaining!"**

**30%, Jaune did the numbers in his head, Before they fought Winter Schnee the Paladin had 68%. So they'd spent more or less a full half of that throwing useless energy shots at the Schnee. This mech was the best hope Jaune had of holding the Grimm off, he had to be careful with its remaining energy.**

Glynda and Ozpin nodded as Winter flushed in mild embarrassment. The thinking was sound and the general planning beforehand was the reason why Jaune Arc was leader. Hell, Glynda didn't believe the score on his leadership aptitude test at first and checked it triple.

She was not proud at her initial behavior towards him, making her look like she had it out for the Arc.

**He tried to contact his allies in the White Fang, but all he could hear back was static. The clearing was some distance away from where he knew the laborers were boarding the airships, so there was a chance that the Grimm hadn't noticed them yet.**

**The gathered Grimm, scores of Beowolves and Ursae Minor and Major encircled them, but not daring to move any closer, seemingly content to await the Goliath's lead.**

**Jaune narrowed his eyes as half-remembered lessons from his Father came to mind. Goliaths were dangerous, not just for their brute strength, but also because of their intelligence. They didn't pick fights they didn't think they could win. Somehow, it appeared to serve as some sort of alpha for the lesser Grimm, tempering what would normally be a frenzied but predictable charge to a cautious advance. Most animals would pick the path of least resistance, in this case, run headlong into Camp Omega's killzones and choke points. With a Goliath leading them, however, it was likely that the Grimm horde had skipped those obstacles and had instead taken shortcuts through the walls.**

"Sound advice, Mr Arc," praised Port. John rubbed the back of his head awkwardly, not having the heart to admit that he didn't teach his son jack about Grimm, only that they existed and were dangerous. The students, meanwhile, made to remember this, as it was valuable information.

**Despite the Goliath only being slightly larger than the Paladin, Jaune had to look way up to meet its crimson glowing eyes.**

**With the Goliath dead, the horde would weaken, the horde would slow down, and the horde would fall into disarray. Therefore, the Goliath needed to die.**

**Problem was, Jaune was also pretty damned aware that Goliaths were pretty fucking hard to kill. Even dust rounds fired from sniper rifles at near point-blank range had difficulty in piercing the Goliath's thick hide.**

"Fearless Leader can do it!" the hammer wielder declared.

"Only with the Paladin," countered Neptune. Nora looked at him like he was stupid.

"Yeah, of course with the paladin. You need high caliber to kill a goliath."

Now Nep actually felt stupid and glared at a snickering Sun.

**By Jaune's reckoning, there were only two things present that could possibly deal damage to the colossal Grimm. He looked down at the Paladin, and the newborn synthetic girl that served as the machine's heart and brain. The Paladin probably had enough brute force to take the Goliath, and among its weapons, its white energy cannon likely had enough power to hurt it. That said, he needed to conserve as much of the Paladin's energy as he could. It was probably their only shot at taking on the Atlesian Army or fending off the Grimm, he needed every unit of energy left in the Paladin's powercells.**

**As for the last thing that could hurt the Goliath…**

**Jaune's eyes went to the solitary, powerful, but injured figure standing tall and proud among the Grimm like a candle in the darkness.**

**Bloodied, burned, and surrounded by the Beasts of Extinction themselves, Winter Schnee stood calm and resolute, sabers held tightly as she stared the Grimm down.**

"Winter!" gasped Weiss.

"What is she doing?" Port inquired, his head moving like he was looking for a physical reason.

"Being an idiot," quipped Qrow.

**From what he'd been able to see, her blades were of extremely fine quality, thin, light and unbelievably sharp. Coupled with the proper momentum, which was easy for her to produce thanks to her ability to produce glyphs, and a clear hit on a vital point; Winter Schnee could probably defeat this Goliath all on her lonesome. The problem was…**

**One of the ursae roared, and despite herself, Winter's injured leg flinched back.**

**Jaune's eyebrow twitched, well, she probably wasn't at her best.**

"That must've been an injury sustained from the earlier fight against the Paladin," Winter surmised.

Tai stared at her. "How are you so calm about this."

She shrugged. "It's merely a movie." Truthfully, she was scared of dying on screen, particularly what that would do to Weiss.

**Winter's eyes scanned the area desperately, looking for anything in the surroundings that she could use to her advantage. Her eyes took stock of the clearing, there were no more hidden, buried caches of dust that the White Fang had readied, nor could she spot anything she could use to escape with her leg as it was.**

**Winter grit her teeth hard. She was finished. The Arc could merely take his mech and run, using both herself and his own Fangs as a diversion for the Grimm as he escaped. The ability to gain control of Atlesian robotics was far more valuable than the lives of a few thousand, untrained faunus workers.**

Ruby stood up in her seat. "That's where you're wrong!" she yelled. Pyrrha nodded along.

"He wouldn't abandon you, just like that."

"He wouldn't be a huntsman if he just up and abandon someone in need of help," Yang supplied.

"Jaune is a good person. He would help you, even if you're adversaries," Velvet piped up. Winter had to hide another blush.

This time, Tori took notice.

**She looked up the Paladin's cockpit, expecting to see the Arc grinning victoriously at her before he would speed away.**

**Instead, her gaze fell upon his solemn, stoic visage. His expression belying nothing, but genuine respect.**

**Her icy blue eyes narrowed at his sky blue. Jaune's eyes merely turned to the Grimm, and looked back, carrying a silent, unspoken request in his azure, cerulean depths.**

**Winter blinked. He wasn't running?**

"He's not one for running away just like that," Pyrrha said with a smile. Weiss felt oddly relieved. The dunce had some redeeming qualities; she simply hadn't taken notice of them.

She squashed the thought of how much of a shame that was.

**As if to reply to her unsaid question, Jaune rose to his feet, standing on the Paladin as his white cloak billowed in the wind, and drew his gleaming white sword, raising it defiantly against the Goliath.**

**The Goliath, in response to his challenge, reared forth, roaring, and the surrounding Grimm joined it.**

The awesomeness was felt by everyone in the theater. Sun was vibrating in excitement, as was Nora and Tai.

Giant robot versus big-ass goliath? Sign them the fuck up!

**The dark beasts cried into the night. The Beowolves howled hauntingly as the Ursae roared powerfully as the Nevermore cackled as the Gryphons cawed.**

**The Goliath took an earthshaking footstep forward, extended its head forward, and roared at its prey.**

**"ROAAAAA-BLRHGHGK!"**

**The Pennydin used that opportunity to dash forward and slug it right in the face mid-roar.**

**The Goliath was taken by surprise, apparently not expecting to be so rudely interrupted in the midst of its unintelligible villainous monologue. Its large frame lost balance, falling on the lesser, smaller, squishier Grimm behind it.**

"Whoo!" Ruby was feeling it! The boys grew just as excited, as was Nora. The teacher were colored impressed by the initiative, which was just the thing to do against any enemy bearing a weakness. Doubly so for the boisterous ones.

Even if it wouldn't be enough.

**Jaune pointed his sword at the Goliath's fallen form, also conveniently where the bulk of the creatures of Grimm were concentrated, and quietly uttered one word:**

**"Fire."**

"So. Cool," Sun breathed.

**Penny moved to comply, and let loose a blinding burst of white energy on the Goliath. The white fire completely engulfing the Goliath's colossal form and all the other scumbags near it.**

**Because fuck that Grimm and everyone near it.**

**The Grimm grew silent as they watched the smoke sizzle from the Goliath's fallen form.**

**Jaune grinned, maybe this was gonna be easier than he thought.**

**Or so he believed, until the ground shook again, and the smoke cleared up, revealing the gigantic, near-unharmed frame of the Goliath.**

**It looked pissed.**

Screams of disbelief echoed as the Grimm rose once more.

"That was a full barrage! How is it still standing?!" yelled Pyrrha in shock.

"What the fuck?! How thick is its hide?!" Coco screamed her outrage.

"This is why Goliaths are so feared, children," Port piped up in a somber tone. "Many a hunter perished against them."

Now fear started to grip them all.

**Firmly out of the Paladin's reach this time, the Goliath roared again, and Jaune spotted a change among the avian Grimm encircling them from above. Large Nevermores and Gryphons fell out of formation, dive bombing straight for his position, and the smaller, lesser fliers swarmed after them, appearing like a dark mist threatening to strangle the life out of the silvery-glowing mech. With the massed bulk of the Nevermore and Gryphons, it was a grim possibility that they could push the Paladin back or even worse, topple the mech over.**

**He wouldn't be able to absorb or deflect this charge, but he had to try!**

The audience was captivated by the action, hoping their friend and student would make it out of this. So far, despite the incredible picturesque portrayal of his heroic actions – and Weiss couldn't believe that she would agree on the prior part – the situation as a whole looked grim.

**Jaune braced himself for the thunderous crash of black Grimm wings, raising his shield over the narrow opening of the cockpit, only to hear a familiar humming.**

**The humming of a glyph.**

**The same humming of her glyphs.**

Gasps of mild relief were abound, among them Winter, who was quite glad that she wasn't the villain but rather an antagonist.

**Right before talons and beaks sunk into their quarry, a snowflake black as the night appeared between Jaune Arc's shield and the winged Grimm.**

**It was huge, but if he was only barely able to see it way up close, no way the Grimm would either. A trap?**

**Crash!**

**Attempting to crash on the mech, the fliers touched the glyph, and with a sound akin to shattering glass, they crashed into the ground painfully.**

**The glyph had but one simple effect, rather than expend her remaining aura into repulsing the diving Grimm back, Winter Schnee instead redirected them downwards, using the fliers' own deadly momentum against them!**

"Good show, Miss Schnee!" Port cheered, to the prideful nod of the specialist. Weiss preened a little at her sister's action, resolving in her mind to practice and eventually master that particular technique.

**Jaune glanced downwards. The crash had crumpled the bodies of the smaller, weaker Grimm, while the larger, more dangerous ones were dazed, leaving them easy pickings for Winter Schnee. Winter simply moved between the tiny gaps between each large Grimm, casually slitting throats and stabbing foreheads, with the same leisure one would display strolling in a park. Eyesight blurred, wings clipped, every time the black-winged monsters would strike at her, she would simply hide behind another Grimm.**

The students were impressed at the showing, showcasing the gap between hunters-in-training and an accomplished specialist.

**Black silhouettes against the night sky alerted Jaune that while the majority of them had, not all of the fliers had joined in on that doomed charge.**

**His palms tingled, and he spun just in time to catch a medium sized Nevermore beak on his shield. Instincts guiding his body, he followed through with a quick, short slash of his sword, slicing right through the Grimm's left eye, spilling black and red ichor all over the cockpit as the bird shrieked.**

**Scarlet claws followed up on his attack, rending the Nevermore's neck into ribbons, and another scarlet strike sent its carcass off careening to the ground.**

**"You sure you guys can fight?" asked Jaune, shield raised, and eying the circling swarm warily.**

**One of the Nevermore in the distance reared back and flapped its wings mightily, shooting razor sharp feathers right at them.**

**"Yeah, yellow aura's good with us," Miltia shrugged, taking cover behind him.**

**Jaune steadied himself as the feathers struck but failed to penetrate the ancient metal of his shield.**

**The Nevermore, seeing that its attack had failed, flew right for them, talons readied, only for the Pennydin to sidestep and swat it out of the air, right into the loving ministrations of Winter Schnee.**

**"Nice one, Penny," Melanie patted Penny's head, causing the little robot to squeal.**

"D'aaaw," cooed Ruby while Yang looked aghast. "How exactly can you find the robotic, mutilated version of your friend cute?"

Ruby deflated a little. "You ruined it," she stated while sulking. Despite that, Kali found the little one cute as well.

**More Grimm came flying in, and like before, whether through gigantic fists, or white sword, or red claws or silver heels, they were pushed back.**

**Jaune took a breath, weapons still raised. Something was wrong, and Jaune's tingling palms validated that thought. Winter's glyph had neutralized the strongest of the fliers, but the smaller ones had regrouped and were massing around the Paladin. The way this was going, they could hold out indefinitely.**

**A quick glance to the surroundings only reinforced Jaune's suspicions. It was difficult to see past the swarming flying Grimm, but from what he could see, the bulk of the horde, the Beowolves and Ursae and the ground pounders hadn't moved an inch. In fact, the Goliath had –**

**Jaune blinked, and focused his eyes, trying to see past the fluttering black wings and glaring red eyes. The Goliath wasn't there!**

**Jaune looked to the left and right, the Goliath was gone!**

Sun gasped. "How?!" Neptune nodded.

"That can't be," Yatsu concurred with furrowed eyebrows. Fox, however, solved the whole riddle of the disappeared giant Grimm.

"Perception." Everyone looked to the blind tan boy. "In the midst of battle, you tend to get distracted, especially with so many hostiles around."  
"Precisely," Glynda confirmed. "Students, you should take this as a lesson in awareness."

**A hand cold as death cupped his cheek, and he found himself face to face with the angry countenance of Winter Schnee, hanging from the mech's shoulder.**

**"What are you doing, you dolt?!" Winter shook him hard, "You need to get away!"**

Yang snorted. "She even talks to him like you do, Weissy."  
"Well, of course," replied a mildly bemused heiress. "She is my sister."  
"Down to the flirting from him." Yang emphasized with some wiggling eyebrows, indicating some tension. Her rebuttal consisted of an indignant harrumph.

**As soon as the words left her lips, an impossibly powerful force crashed into the Paladin from behind, nearly causing the Pennydin to stumble over, and causing Winter to fall off from her perch. The Goliath had struck them from behind!**

**The Goliath had sent its fliers in to blind them, to distract them, as it circled around! The Paladin moved quickly, so the Grimm must've wanted to ensure it could get a clear blow.**

Students and adults alike cursed, with Qrow even wincing. It reminded him of the first mission of Team STRQ, where he managed to get blindsided and Summer had to bail him out.

The thought made him sigh. He missed her dearly.

**The Pennydin rotated her torso, and with both arms, caught both the Colossal Grimm's tusks in her hands.**

**It was no equilibrium, the Grimm's strength very slightly overpowered the Paladin's. One giant pushed the other back, even as Jaune and his companions in the cockpit were face to face with the Grimm's baleful mask.**

"It's the wrestling match of the century!" Nora hollered. "The Pennydin versus-"

"Pennydin!" Yang laughed. "Yes!" to the general groaning of her team and the hammer wielder notably both angry at the interruption and embarrassed.

**Jaune closed his eyes in frustration. He'd been outmaneuvered by a goddamn elephant. He knew what was coming next.**

**This was exactly the same tactic they had used against the Paladin when he fought it with the Fang.**

**The Paladin was fast, so the first thing they did was blind its eyes. Jaune and the Twins did so by breaking its laser sights and cameras, while the Grimm had done so by swarming their vision with loads of flying Grimm.**

**The Paladin, blinded, still had substantial speed however, so the Fang slowed it down by bombarding it with ice dust til it slowed. The Goliath had accomplished this by charging them and forcing them to hold it off. If they tried to disengage, they'd only lose balance and topple over, or leave themselves open to another charge.**

**Finally, blinded and bound, all that remained was the killing blow.**

The general thought process amazed those in particular who didn't think all that much of Jaune Arc. Pyrrha wasn't that surprised, seeing as she knew her partner and his aptitude for strategy. Glynda smiled, then frowned, finding herself deep in thought. She wondered how he could make use of these instincts in combat class. Or rather, why he didn't. Was it some sort of psychological issue?

Food for thought, she supposed.

**He opened his eyes and it was as he had just expected. With the Paladin held immobile, the Beowolves and Ursae had begun to move, clambering up the mech like insects. Seeing their ground forces start moving, the remaining fliers had redoubled their efforts, pecking and slashing anywhere they could. Melanie and Miltia were doing what they could to fend off the attacks in such a limited space, but that wasn't much, and Winter Schnee was nowhere to be seen.**

**Any moment now, the heavier Grimm, the Ursae and the Beowolves would scale the mech, and breach the cockpit, and then they were finished.**

**Shit!**

**Shit!**

**SHIIIIIIT!**

**They were going to die.**

**He was going to die.**

Everyone winced or whimpered, either bracing themselves for a tragedy or desperately praying for a miracle. Winter, meanwhile, questioned what in the world her other self was doing, and genuinely found herself cursing her other self's antagonism towards the Arc.

…

**Huh.**

**Jaune clenched his fist. Somehow, the tingling had ... gone away? No, the tingling and itching had just intensified. Gotten so strong that his hands felt numb, so numb, that it appeared to have gone around full circle and felt normal.**

**He looked up at the Goliath's angry mask. Somehow, it didn't appear so fearsome and scary now. In fact, its floppy ears and stupid trunk made its entire head look like a huge flaccid dick. Haha, dick.**

Silence reigned.

For a few seconds.

Then chuckling.

"Shush, Yang," chided Weiss.

"Wasn't me," the blonde replied, thumbing to a snickering Neptune.

**Jaune chuckled; his lips twitched upwards.**

**It was strange, Jaune mused. Here he was, facing certain death, and it felt ... way too underwhelming. He was afraid of getting hurt, and he was afraid of dying, and he was pretty sure the Grimm scared the fuck out of him, but now that it was actually happening…**

**Jaune took a deep breath, savoring the fresh mountain air, tinged with the scent and crackle of dust.**

**Now that it was actually happening, everything wasn't nearly as scary.**

**His ancestors' memoirs had all mentioned feeling either like they were breaking under the stress, or feeling some sort of fatalistic lightheadedness like nothing in the world mattered except for the moment.**

"It's called 'making peace'," Qrow supplied the blonde's thoughts and the tranquility he felt. Ruy would rather not have him make peace and was vibrating with worry.

Literally. Weiss edged away from her a little.

**He could now say he knew exactly what it felt. His longing for Beacon feeling distant, his doubts about the righteousness of this mission forgotten, his guilt about burning down his family home and his attempts to fake transcripts were meaningless. For now, the only thing that mattered was his next move.**

"Ex-_cuse me?!_"

No one expected this thought to occur or be voiced by the narration. Least of all a rather indignant Weiss. The Arcs just winced at her reaction.

"That makes _too much sense _to be just made up for a show!" she bellowed. Yang fell into deep thought while Velvet balked and the rest of Team CFVY quietly contemplated. Nora owlishly blinked while Ren betrayed no emotion. Sun and Neptune were equally surprised. Yet…

"Hold on," Ghira intervened in the commotion stirred by Weiss. "Why are you so upset?"  
Weiss bit back a remark, remembering that the man didn't know what was what. "It makes too much sense to merely be fiction. Arc's combat prowess..."

"Hmm, yeah, it does make sense," murmured the boxer. Blake said nothing, merely observing the heiress getting more and more agitated.

"I suppose it's no use beating around the bush, then, hm?" Ozpin stared straight at Weiss. "Mr Arc has indeed forged his transcripts to attend Beacon."

"...huh," was all Nora said.

"Huh?" aped Weiss. "_Huh_?! Is that all you have to say?!"

"Weiss!" snapped Winter. "You will behave and calm down right this instant!" her sister turned to her in shock. "I-Winter, you can't be serious in defending him!"

"I am not," was the level reply. "But if your headmaster knew from the start and hasn't expelled him yet, there must be a reason for it, no?" Her icy gaze bore into her younger sister, who shied away a little, before turning to the man himself. "Isn't there?"

A tiny smile crept onto Ozpin's face as his colleagues stared at him and his deputy merely looked on with her inscrutable gaze. "He has potential, most of all," he began. "His growth, as can be attested by Miss Nikos is staggering."

Weiss' head snapped to the spartan. "Is that why you're training him? Did you know as well?!"

Pyrrha said nothing and nodded meekly as a reply, making Nora speak out. "Whaaaat? Come on, I wanna train him too!"

"While he isn't the best fighter yet," Ren added. "There is more to being a huntsman than just fighting, I would argue."

"Got it in one, pinky," Qrow slurred. "It doesn't mean jack if you're good at beating the snot out of Grimm. If your heart isn't in it, you'll run when it counts and leave innocent people to die." He grimaced, seemingly remembering someone unpleasant from his long time working.

"The fact that Mr Arc, despite no prior knowledge, managed to catch up in such a short amount of time," - Oobleck threw in his two cents - "I quite staggering, if I dare say it."

"Now that I think about it..." Coco mused aloud. "If he didn't have any formal training, how come he blocked that Deathstalker pincer at initiation?"

Ruby blinked a little before turning to her. "How do you know about that?" she inquired, which the upperclasswoman acquitted with a quizzical glare at first before remembering a certain detail.

"Well, initiation is broadcast across Beacon every year. We saw you all stumbling around in the Emerald Forest."

Yatsu nodded. "Not to mention that it was an Elder Deathstalker. A feat like that, particularly for a civilian, much less a huntsman-in-training, is not..."

"He what?!" bellowed John in surprise before busting out a proud laugh. "Now that's my son!"

The heiress looked at the father in indignation. "Your son cheated his way into a huntsman academy and you simply tolerate it?!"

"Weiss," Winter cut in. "Stop it."

"Wha-"

"Mr Arc has proven himself to belong here if the headmaster endorses his stay. You shouldn't question his decision. As an aside..." Her hard and scrutinizing expression was nowhere to be seen, merely one of contemplation and deep thought was there. "The upperclassmen do not seem to hold it against him, much less his partner."

"Yup!" decided Ruby. "He's crazy good at strategy, so we just have to beat him into shape. Figuratively, _Yang_."

Said person threw her sister a stupefied gaze. "I didn't say a thing!"  
"As an aside," Tai added. "The kid needs to work harder to keep up."  
"He works crazy hard!" Nora yelled. "He is our Fearless Leader!"

"In more ways than one if he's still sticking around," Qrow deadpanned, receiving nods from NPR. Weiss, somewhat defeated, sunk back into her seat, only to notice Blake next to her looking at her with a difficult expression. White-hot embarrassment and regret filled her at once. No wonder Yang didn't speak up against him. If they could forgive Blake for forging her transcripts and hiding her past from them, shouldn't they give Jaune the benefit of the doubt?

"We should talk about this later," Ozpin proposed. "When Mr Arc is here to defend himself." the Arcs, along with Pyrrha, breathed a sigh of relief.

"If he's able to do that without training," Sun whispered to Nep. "Wonder what he could do with more."  
"Like laser eyes?"  
"Hell yeah."  
**Jaune closed his eyes, and focused. The tight knots of fear so strong just moments ago had dissolved into some sort of... apathetic calmness. If death was so certain, and nothing he did mattered anymore, why not try and fight his best?**

**No, Jaune wasn't calm. In fact, now that he thought about it, he felt like laughing. A fake, a failure like him getting this far? Somehow claiming the command and respect of bloody extremists who hated him and his kind? Receiving the acknowledgment of such a wonderful huntress as Winter Schnee? Finding such steadfast friends in Kaz, Gaston, Penny, Junior and the Twins?**

Winter blushed a little at being called wonderful, while Pyrrha felt vindicated. Port laughed in his jovial way as Ruby fist pumped with a grin. Velvet smiled along happily.

**It was less than he wished for, but more than what someone like him deserved.**

**But it was just so fucking funny!**

**It began as a tiny chuckle, causing Penny's cute, freckled face to look at him in confusion.**

**Then he snorted, causing the Twins and the Grimm they were fighting to snap at him, faces completely bewildered.**

**Jaune bit his lower lip in an attempt to stifle the giggles, but seeing everyone stare at him, looking like puffed up fish? That was just too much.**

**The harder he tried to suppress it, the stronger it thrashed around, gathering up in his chest like a bomb, until he finally let loose a loud snort.**

**Silence had abound all around. Human, robot and Grimm eyes were staring at him bewilderedly until Miltiades, bent over the cockpit walls had suddenly passed gas.**

**And it wasn't one of the quiet ones, she ripped one of the most epic farts Jaune had ever heard.**

Silence at first, before everyone laughed. It was tense, but Jaune laughing over the absurdity of his current reality coupled with something as mundane as a girl breaking wind? That was it's own brand of comedy, something that couldn't be replicated that easily. Using tension as a joke, with the fart as the punchline.

**That was too much, and Jaune erupted in rib-shaking, raving laughter, actually letting go of his shield and letting it clatter on the cockpit floor as he used the now-free hand to steady himself.**

**"Oh, oh! Uh, err, ha, ha, ha," Penny had tried to join in, head bobbing with each syllable, causing Jaune to fall to one knee, giggling and howling maniacally as he tried to force air back into his lungs.**

**Panting, finally able to feel like himself again, Jaune looked back up, meeting the confused gaze of the Goliath.**

**Able to think clearly again, Jaune realized something.**

**He was grateful.**

**The current situation wasn't something he wanted to find himself in like, ever, but now that it happened, well.**

**He was trying to do something heroic, something he believed in, rescuing lives without spilling blood. He had made a few friends; people he wouldn't trade for anyone or anything in the world. He had earned the respect of his heroes and heroines, well, one of them at least, and from a famous (or so he thought) family at that!**

**He had asked for this. This was exactly what he wanted.**

**He wanted this.**

The Arcs smiled almost sadly at their son on screen, knowing that he did what he did to make them proud, because he felt the burden of his family name so strongly and believed in the ideals.

There was enough cynicism in the world to go around, thank you very much.

His team felt the tension once more, feeling how he wanted to be the hero, and now, in this particular world, could very well be. And would be, if one were to take those excerpts into account.

**His sky blue eyes met the crimson eyes of the Goliath, and this time, he met its glare without fear.**

**He was fighting the Grimm, the enemies of mankind. He was fighting the nightmare. He was fighting the shadow, HE WAS THE FLAME!**

Nora felt the hype. "Yeah!"  
The students cheered along as the adults smiled a little, save for Qrow, who had to smirk.

**All eyes on him, all fights temporarily halted, he raised Crocea Mors, the sword of the Hero Julius, with both hands.**

**All he wanted in life, was to be a hero. If he was going to die, he was going to die a hero, protecting his friends, and if he dared hope, buy them time to escape or succeed.**

**Jaune flared his aura, boosting his strength and defensive capabilities to their highest levels. Fuck the consequences, full speed ahead!**

"Pause!" Pyrrha bellowed as she lurched forward in her seat. "His semblance…!"  
"Aura amplification," Ozpin murmured.  
"So he can boost aura?!" Ruby was vibrating again.  
"Ours can not. There is no guarantee for that," Weiss cut in.

"Well," Coco spoke up with her trademark smirk. "We just have to see for ourselves, won't we?"  
"I will help," Glynda stated. "I have an idea on how to coax it out of him..."

Tori looked skeptical. "I hope it's nothing dangerous."

"It won't be," the teacher assured her.

"Laser body," whispered Sun to Nep, who grinned.

"Talk about a busted semblance," Qrow mumbled as Tai pondered the possibilities of a buffed aura.

**If there was one thing the Goliath counted on, it was that the Goliath expected its opponents to be rational, and remain in the safety of the cockpit. There was nowhere to escape to, after all.**

**Jaune Arc burst into a sprint, both hands grasping the Legendary Sword Crocea Mors.**

**Eyes wide and mouth agape, Melanie's hands went to her mouth as she tried to suppress a horrified scream. He didn't have enough space to run and build up speed!**

**He couldn't make the jump!**

**As those thoughts passed her mind, the first of its brethren to do so, an Ursa had climbed and reached the cockpit, but before it could swipe at anyone, a foot had stomped on its face.**

**Jaune stepped on the Ursa's head, and kicked off of it, right for the Goliath's face.**

**Melanie choked on her spit mid-scream.**

**Jaune Arc jumped off a 20 foot mecha, kicked off a fucking Ursa, and, with both hands, raised his unbreakable sword, ready to plunge it right on the Goliath's head.**

**The colossal Grimm, surprised for the very first time in its centuries-long life, flinched.**

**The Goliath had tried to turn its head to the right in an attempt to dodge the blade, but Jaune was already locked on his deadly course.**

**Missing the head narrowly, with both hands and all his strength, Jaune plunged Crocea Mors right into the Goliath's left eye instead.**

"OH YEAH!" Yang hollered. "Show that dumbo who's boss!" The other students were getting caught up in the excitement while the Arcs, Pyrrha and Velvet all found themselves worried.

Now what?

**The Goliath howled in pain, as black and red ichor flowed liberally from its eye, shaking its head wildly, sending Jaune falling to the far, cold ground.**

**Penny, experiencing every sensation in the Paladin's frame as if they were her own... no, because they were her own limbs, felt the Goliath waver in their contest of strength. Hands freed, the Pennydin balled her right hand into a fist, and with all the force of a hurricane, unleashed a mighty hook on what passed for the Goliath's temple.**

**The Goliath's entire body staggered as the heavy fist rocked its head, ichor flowing wildly on its bone-white mask, appearing as if it was cracked or crying blood.**

**Spinning counter-clockwise with the momentum of the hook, the Pennydin rotated its torso full circle, backhanding the Goliath's head before it could recover, and shaking off the latched Grimm.**

Hype was real. Hype was_ so _real. Now Port and Tai were amongst the ones cheering and hollering.

"Show 'em, creepy robot girl!" yelled Sun.

"Jaune, Jaune, Jaune!" Nora was chanting while Ren actually had to hold himself back from being swept up in the moment. King Hype was slowly conquering them all.

**Mask cracked, head bowed down low, and with an earthshaking roar, the Goliath raised its head and rammed the mech with its tusks.**

**Swinging wide, the Pennydin countered the assault with an uppercut, taking the Goliath from under its chin, the sudden attack actually lifting the beast off the ground for a while.**

**The Goliath staggered back, but as Penny moved in to follow up, the Goliath leapt forward, tackling the machine, slamming it back with its superior weight.**

**The earth quaked as the giants exchanged blows.**

**The Malachite Twins held on for dear life as they were thrown around like ragdolls while white machine fought black monster.**

**Beowolves and Ursae were trampled and kicked around under the feet of colossi.**

**Penny, on the other hand, was having the time of her life. Every passing second was a new sensation, a new feeling, a new thrill in what was once a dark and lifeless world.**

Sun's smile disappeared for a fraction of a second. "Well, that's kinda tragic."  
"Yes," Yatsu nodded, mildly perturbed at the prospect of being isolated for such a long time. "When you think about it..."  
"Less talking, more watching!" yelled an angry and impatient Coco.

**The Goliath reared, kicking at her new body's shoulders with its front legs.**

**She savored each blow. Was this pain?**

**Pain felt great.**

It was freaky to hear a girl savoring pain. Then again, she was someone who had been in a basement for who knows how long.

**Penny's grin widened further, and she balled one of her new hands into a fist.**

**Not as great as this though.**

**In a bright flash, the Paladin buried another fist into the Grimm's face with a sickening, thunderous, satisfying, *sensational* crunch.**

**Jaune Arc fell.**

**He blinked as he did. For some reason, falling didn't quite dizzy him as compared to riding a bullhead or a car.**

**Actually, it felt kind of nice.**

**The wind blew past his back, chilling his body, and blowing his cloak to wrap around him like a blanket.**

**He was falling face up, staring into the night, peaceful now that they'd cleared most of the Grimm from the sky.**

**He glanced at his sword, as if to verify that he didn't daydream and actually just did what he did. Sure enough, the white blade was dirtied black and red. Jaune smiled, he wasn't dying with a clean blade, at the very least.**

**He... he was gonna die now wasn't he?**

"What?!" gasped Ruby, joined by a "NO!" from Pyrrha. Many voiced their objections to this. It shouldn't end like that! No after all that hype!

**Jaune closed his eyes. For some reason, the feeling of peace didn't quite return.**

**He wondered why.**

**His eyes snapped open in realization. Of course the feeling of peace wouldn't return, a fall from this height wouldn't kill him, and they were fucking winning now!**

**He wasn't dying!**

**Not today, you Grimm sons of bitches!**

"YEAH!"

**Desperate hope flared through his body, and Jaune flailed around in some misguided attempt to slow his fall.**

**Jaune made a quick glance down, holy shit, was the ground getting bigger by the second!**

**His calloused hands grasped his sword tightly, ohh fuck this was gonna hurt.**

**Jaune shut his eyes, and prepared for impact.**

**... Only, it didn't come.**

**Sky blue eyes opened to meet ice blue eyes.**

**For a second, he thought was dead because how else would he be in the arms of an angel?**

**A snow angel.**

**The immaculate form of Winter Schnee, pale hair flying in the wind, held him bridal style, as they fell – no, floated gracefully in the sky.**

Winter now blushed furiously as Weiss groaned to the heavens while the three frowned in dismay. Tori was giggling while Qrow chuckled. It was a more or less pleasing high time for all.

Well, not really.

'_I wonder if he would be the same in person…?_'

**Wow, Jaune mouthed, earnest eyes wide open, mouth speechless.**

**Winter's brows furrowed in deliberation, before she shrugged, smirked and whispered in his ear.**

**"Just dropping in?"**

**Don't pop a boner don't pop a boner don't pop a boner don't pop a boner don't pop a boner…**

The blush intensified while her sister cried in outrage. The boys were laughing in good humor.

"Never had that problem," Coco smirked, to the collective eye-rolling of her team.

**Gaping, drooling Grimm maws widened as they approached ever closer to the ground, but right before they could, a series of glyphs, curving upwards, appeared out of thin air. Winter Schnee dipped a dainty foot into one of them, and the glyph sent them gliding into the sky, flying towards the Paladin.**

**Two pairs of feet landed on the Paladin's shoulders just as the mech hammered the Goliath with an overhead punch.**

"Oh that is _so cool._"

**Jaune looked at Winter, and she looked at him back. Both their eyes expressing grudging respect and admiration. He, for her tenacity and skill, and she, for his daring and cunning.**

Pyrrha had to nod along, same with Nora. The both of them were of the opinion that Jaune's tenacity was incredible, particularly in the light of his transcripts. Weiss just shook her head, remembering his incessant courting attempts.

**"Jaune!" both the twins cried as he slid back into the cockpit. Winter had remained atop the Paladin's shoulders, each of them knowing what the other was planning.**

**Jaune sat on the thronelike seat and leaned on the controls, obscuring Penny's presence from the Schnee while also allowing him to whisper something inconspicuously to his little robot.**

**Whatever it was Jaune whispered to Penny, it caused her freckled face to brighten even further than he thought possible.**

**The Goliath approached, shaking the earth, ready for another slugfest despite the loss of its eye, however, this time, the Pennydin did not answer.**

**Rather than approach, the Paladin fell back, opening fire with its still operable machine guns mounted on its arms. Jaune narrowed his eyes at the beast. Small-arms fire such as these normally meant absolutely nothing at a Goliath's powerful hide, but he just needed to annoy and provoke it right now.**

**"Aim for the eye, Penny," Jaune whispered, and she complied, focusing the rapid fire on the still-bleeding eye.**

**Now they were able to elicit a reaction from the gigantic beast.**

**Where Jaune's blade had stabbed the eye and torn the beast's eyelid, Penny's supernatural accuracy had completely obliterated what remained of the thing, and ripped the eyelid apart like it was paper.**

**The beast cried in pain.**

Hollering and cheering were prevalent in the theater. From Port to the PatriArc, from a maniacally grinning Yang to a giddy Velvet, all were about, unable to keep still.

**"Big gun," ordered Jaune, and Penny fired her cannon at the gaping hole where the eye used to be.**

**The beast had released an inhuman shriek, and raced after them, moving much, much quicker than Jaune had ever seen.**

**Such a shame then, that the Paladin was just so much faster.**

**Like a masterful bullfighter, the Paladin had spun and turned on its feet, evading the reckless charge and peppering machinegun fire at the smoking socket the whole while.**

**Little by little, the Goliath grew more and more furious, its once careful actions giving way to bloodlusted berserking. It even appeared to lose cohesion over its horde as the gigantic Grimm attempted to tackle, slam and ram the mech down, repeatedly crushing its own brethren instead.**

"Damn," whispered Tai. "If this is how he can improvise, he definitely deserves to be a huntsman." Qrow smirked and nodded while a frowning Weiss overheard them.

'_How? How is it that he wasn't trained, then?_'

Tori sneezed, without any reason, which left her nonplussed.

**Penny faithfully obeyed Jaune's orders, spinning and turning and keeping her distance as the Twins desperately clung to Jaune's legs.**

**All the while, Jaune's eyes were calm, reminiscent of tranquil, serene blue skies over bloody battlefields.**

No guesses over who fawned over those eyes.

**He could hear it. It was faint, but if he tuned the white noise out, he could hear it.**

**The glassy, steady humming of glyphs being birthed into existence.**

**Winter Schnee stood atop the Paladin, calling upon her infinite soul that it might change fate, bend reality, and twist time to her whims. Sword outstretched to the horizon as an artist would lift a brush to an easel, she painted her glyphs into being: one below the Paladin's feet, one on each of the Paladin's arms, and a straight, unbroken column of glyphs behind the Goliath.**

**All of those glyphs, incomplete, ready to activate at a moment's notice.**

People balked at that display. Winter wasn't sure if she could pull off such a thing, unless…  
"I must've been boosted by Mr Arc," she surmised.

Now everyone was curious how an aura boost would affect them. Sun imagined a veritable army of clones, while Blake figured she would turn into a mass of shadows. Velvet thought of icredile maneuverability at minimal cost to her stamina. In short, if their version of Jaune had the same semblance, he would be the ultimate support.

**Her role was finished, her vengeance was completed. She had other places to be now.**

**She bit her lip. The Goliath was not an issue anymore, but as for him. No, with her condition as it stood now, and with her aura expended, she could not hope to overcome in battle once more.**

**She surveyed the battlefield. He had performed his role admirably. The Goliath was well and truly frenzied now, and charged forward without a hint of self-preservation or rational thought, charging forth recklessly in a telegraphed run even a fool could counter.**

**She clicked her heels twice on the Paladin's frame.**

**It was time.**

**It was time!**

**Jaune placed a hand on Penny's shoulder as she looked up at him, replenishing her aura back to full. Aura at optimal levels, Penny expended more to increase the Paladin's, her, body's strength.**

**"Get him, girl," Jaune smiled, "Show us what you got."**

**Penny gave him a toothy grin, showing way too much teeth to be reassuring.**

Sun laughed in excitement. "I'm not even creeped out anymore, this is gonna be great!"

Ruby and Nora both enthusiastically nodded their heads, stars in their eyes.

**As the colossal Grimm came bounding and roaring after them, rather than use her guns, Penny stomped the ground, and with the sound of shattering glass, kicked off from the earth.**

**Crash!**

**The glyph by the Paladin's feet activated.**

**Jaune's aura flowing through her circuits and Winter's glyph adding to her momentum, Penny jolted forth like a shooting star, shining white amidst the darkness.**

**Mass and Acceleration married together to birth overwhelming Force, and Penny focused it all on one mighty left fist.**

**Crash!**

**The glyph encircling the Paladin's left fist activated.**

**The Goliath barely had time to widen its eye; with a resounding and deafening boom, the fist had crashed into its mask, faster than lightning, and stronger than thunder, sending it flying back!**

**The winds generated by the punch were so powerful Jaune felt his aura take damage. The Grimm in the air were blown away and the ones on land were thrown backwards. The Malachites tightened their embrace on his calves.**

The impact could be felt in the theater, making the students shiver in excitement. John could not be prouder of his son at that moment. Seeing him commanding a ragtag bunch of misfits as if he had steered them for decades was something to behold.

So why had he been so intent on shielding him…?

**The Goliath fell backwards at considerable speed, its massive bulk flung helplessly towards the Camp's walls.**

**The sound of breaking glass filled the air as the Goliath crashed against the first glyph Winter had put behind it.**

**The first glyph behind the Goliath activated, feeding the Goliath's momentum and flinging it backwards even faster.**

**Crash! More glass broke.**

**The second glyph behind the Goliath activated.**

**Crash!**

**The third glyph behind the Goliath activated. Jaune swore he could see smoke coming from the Goliath's hide.**

**Crash!**

**The fourth.**

**Crash!**

**The fifth.**

**Crash, crash, crash, crash, CRASH!**

**The walls of Camp Omega were built out of the strongest, most durable material Atlas could afford. There were only a small handful of things, Grimm, machine, or man, that could actually breach it, and even then it would take time. Atlesian engineers often joked that the Kingdoms would long be dead before such walls turned into ruin.**

**The Goliath crashed through it as if it were plywood.**

**In the distance, the Goliath had managed to rise on extremely shaky feet. Bones dislocated, tusks broken, and the left side of its mask completely shattered and broken. It roared desperately, showering its surroundings with spittle and ichor.**

**Penny hesitated, then stepped into the glyph the Goliath had just been launched through.**

**The Goliath spun desperately, trying to get a sense of its bearings, not fully comprehending what the fuck just happened to it.**

**Crash, crash, crash, crash, crash, CRASH!**

**With the sound of breaking glass, and a flash of light, the Paladin had emerged from the glyph corridor and slammed into the Goliath's beaten form like a meteor, sending it crashing to the ground.**

"OH YEAH!" The hype became even stronger.

**As they followed the Goliath past the wall into someplace unfamiliar, Jaune Arc looked around to try and find out where they were. All sounds from the outside world had been silenced, like the universe had held its breath. The place they had followed the Goliath to looked quite familiar as well. In fact, if he didn't know any better, this place and the civilian airships and bullheads over there made this place look like the landing zone they set up for the laborers.**

**Jaune stared into the crowd. White Fang Faunus, Atlesian Soldiers, Camp Omega Security Forces, Faunus laborers and multitudes of Grimm both airborne and ground stared back.**

**It was the landing zone they set up for the laborers!**

**Jaune and the Malachite Twins shared petrified glances at each other. They'd been so preoccupied with fighting Winter Schnee, and the Goliath, that they had somehow circled back to the LZ without noticing.**

**Jaune resisted the urge to gape. Just what the fuck was going on? The White Fang, the Atlesians, and the Grimm all had guns, or swords, or claws and fangs pointed everywhere, and looked like they were in the midst of beating the shit out of each other until they froze at the sight of him.**

**Jaune's eyes scanned the scene rapidly, going from detail to detail in an effort to find the bigger picture.**

**Closest to the airships, groups and groups of faunus laborers, identifiable by the assortment of drab rags they wore, were defended, and cordoned off by a thin line of white, the White Fang and the Omega Security Forces. Peering closer, Jaune spotted Kaz and Gaston leading those formations. Most of the Fang, however, seemed to be locked in mortal combat with the Atlesians.**

On one hand, how can these people still fight when there were Grimm?! On the other, the watchers had to smile or simply nod in approval at the security forces at least having the decency to cooperate with the White Fang for an evacuation effort.

**There by the side were Atlesian soldiers. Stragglers most likely, escaping from the Grimm-overrun areas of the base. Jaune winced, seeing one of them held by a burly Fang in a painful-looking headlock. They must've been falling back or retreating only to stumble into the LZ. To the Southeast, where they were just scant moments ago, an endless black tide of Grimm stared at him frozen both on land and in the air.**

**Shit, that was a lot of Grimm.**

Everyone agreed, even Port. "That's not good."

"Wait!" the hammer wielder gasped. "This scene! It's from the book!"

People recalled the lines, some of them only bits, and realized the same. "That means the big guy in the headlock must be the author," Tai concluded.

**The only chance they had at getting out of this was if they worked together. The airships lent by the Redwings had more than enough space to accommodate everyone, albeit in a bit of a tight squeeze. They needed to board quickly, and focus their efforts into ensuring that the fliers didn't bring them down. If everyone worked together, they could do that, they could win!**

**Excellent, Jaune smiled, the Fang would listen to him, and the Atlesians would listen to Winter! Standing up and turning to the Paladin's shoulders, Jaune was about to shout out to Winter until he noticed something important.**

**Simply, he noticed something that wasn't there to be noticed.**

**Jaune saw no one.**

**The shoulders were bare, bereft of a glyph-casting angel as beautiful as a winter morning.**

**Where the fuck was she?!**

"Where the fuck are you, Ice Queen?!" Qrow was genuinely outraged as Winter just looked stunned. Ho could she…?

"She must be making an effort elsewhere," Weiss jumped to her sister's aid, who gave her a grateful nod. Qrow grumbled: "Sure hope so." before downing another gulp of his alcohol.

**Slowly turning back forward, Jaune was painfully aware that every eye, faunus, human and Grimm were still locked at him, brains still processing what the hell was going on. Jaune imagined that if he looked close enough, he could probably see himself reflected in the shiny material of each Fang Mask and Atlesian Visor.**

**If he cowered under their scrutiny now, they'd break.**

**They'd die.**

**Jaune closed his eyes.**

**Truce.**

**He needed to get Atlesians and Faunus, sworn enemies to each other, to point their guns away from each other and towards the Grimm. He needed to convince the Atlesians that they could trust the Faunus, and the Faunus that they should let the Atlesians come aboard the airships.**

Easier said than done, almost everyone thought. It would be near impossible to at least make the two sides cooperate instead of killing each other. Nora, meanwhile, had all the confidence in her leader.

**Morale.**

**It had been a hell of a long night, and if the grime and conditions of the gear were any indication, everyone was running ragged. This was the last stretch. The last push. Just a little more, and they would be victorious. They just needed to hold off the dark tides a little while longer.**

**Inspiration.**

**He needed to halt the tide of despair and fear that every man and faunus was probably feeling right now. Doing so would conceal them from Grimm reinforcements.**

**Drawing on half-remembered presentation techniques his actress sister Sapphire had taught him, books he had read, and games he had played so, so long ago, Jaune took a deep breath.**

**Image and volume, he needed to look big. Larger than life. Jaune forced white aura down his throat, and subtly flared his aura, making himself look like he had a spotlight on him, making himself glow. Be positive, Jaune grasped his sword, took a step forward, foot on the cockpit walls, and adopted a very familiar pose.**

**A Hero's pose.**

Ruby lit up, as did Pyrrha. Nora was vibrating in her seat. "Is he…?" asked Goodwitch, who up until now was silently observing everything, taking it all in.

"He is!" cheered the Valkyrie. Velvet's face suddenly was taken by a bright smile, while Pyrrha worried.

**Well, faking it had got him this far, right?**

**Familiarity had begun to blossom among the people.**

**They'd seen this before, and Jaune was banking on that.**

**The sight of a knight, clad in shining plate, pauldron, and gauntlet, pure white cape and longcoat billowing in the wind evoked memories. Flaring his aura so powerfully he was glowing, Jaune Arc thrust his gleaming white sword in the sky, raised in defiance of destiny.**

**Miltiades stared at the scene in shock. His cape was flowing even without wind.**

**One by one, eyes widened as the crowd put the pieces together. Whether they were Valean or not, Faunus or Human, Male or Female, everyone knew this image.**

**Julius Arc's pose. The same image prestigious Beacon's vaunted statue displayed.**

**Jaune shone like the moon, like a star, like a lighthouse, like a signal, like a beacon.**

**When Jaune's eyes opened, they were filled with uncharacteristic fury.**

People recoiled a little; they had only once before seen that kind of fury, and only in the viewing where Jaune was a dad.

**Throat enhanced with the touch of aura, Jaune turned to the left and bellowed out words, voice impossibly deep, speech impossibly loud, both strong enough to shake the world.**

**"BROTHERS AND SISTERS OF THE WHITE FANG!"**

"OH GOD THAT'S LOUD!" shrieked Sun, holding his ears. The other faunus winced as well, shielding their sensitive organs.

**The voice came over them like a storm, and the assembled faunus flinched. Most of them recognized him even without his mask. Recognized him as the Commander who led them faithfully from Vale. Recognized him as the Leader who saved them from the Paladin he now rode as his own.**

**None would deny brotherhood with him, for blood spilled in defense of your comrades were thicker than the water of the womb.**

**From the corner of his eye, he could spot Kaz remove his sunglasses in awe, his mouth repeating some set of words over and over again.**

**That was a good thing right? Turning to the right, addressing the Atlesians, he spoke again.**

**"SOLDIERS OF ATLAS!"**

**Human eyes, bereft of nightvision, latched onto his bright form like a man dying of thirst would a skin of water. Atlesian fighting men and women gasped as they saw his features, as human as the rest of them, and yet someone that the Fang acknowledged as kin, as a leader.**

**Gaston looked up, eyes wide, his usually dour expression colored pale with shock.**

**Next Jaune spoke, not with thunder, but in the same hushed tones a father would grieve over a child.**

"He is taking them," observed a stunned Winter. She hadn't seen such a heroic pose and poise ever before. And to think that he was so taken with her...made her blush all over again.

"Heart and Soul," concurred a mesmerized Oobleck.

**Jaune lowered the blade and reached out his hand to the crowd, beseeching them.**

**"HAVE YOU FORGOTTEN WHO YOU ARE?"**

**All eyes were glued onto his brilliant form. Jaune thanked the stars that even the Grimm were mesmerized.**

**"YOU ARE THE WHITE FANG!" his hopeful voice spoke, "THE SHIELD FOR THOSE WITHOUT, THE GUARDIANS AND DEFENDERS OF THE WEAK!"**

**He deliberately replaced the word "faunus" with "weak".**

**"AND NOW," his voice turned derisive, "YOU HAVE FORGOTTEN YOUR PURPOSE. YOU HAVE FORSAKEN THE INNOCENT, AND HAVE LEFT THE WEAK TO DIE!"**

Blake flinched, but had to concur. The Fang had been perverted, led astray by Adam and his ilk, blinded by hatred and anger, now nothing more than the very beasts humanity proclaime the faunus to be. This was why she left, she recalled, and breathed a little more shallowly.

**Faunus eyes slowly turned back to the laborers they came to rescue. Sure enough, some were trampled in the chaos, some too were caught in the crossfire, and some too were forgotten and left to the mercies of the Grimm. Jaune could spot a faunus release the soldier he held in a headlock.**

**"YOU ARE THE ATLESIAN ARMY!" his hopeful voice spoke again, "UNMATCHED IN COURAGE AND DISCIPLINE. REMNANT'S GREATEST FIGHTING MEN AND WOMEN, REMNANT'S FINEST SOLDIERS!"**

**At the mention of "soldiers", backs had unconsciously began straightening up. Hard-earned discipline reasserting itself among these warriors.**

**"AND NOW," once again did his voice become mocking, "YOU HAVE BROKEN. YOUR KNEES TREMBLE, YOUR TEETH CHATTER. YOU'RE REMNANT'S FINEST?"**

**The Goliath rose to its feet, bloodied, bones jutting out of its body. Releasing an unholy roar, it unleashed one last desperate charge at the Pennydin, shaking the ground and causing onlookers to fall with every step.**

"The fucker's still alive?!" Tai became plain frustrated with that Oumdamned elephant, as did many others. Winter, meanwhile, sighed, not in frustration or resignation that he had spoken truly…

She had become smitten.

'_If our version is just a fraction as incredible as this one, or has the potential to be so…_' She concluded that she _needed _to get to know him.

**Humans and faunus alike cried out in alarm, but the Pennydin simply stood still, content to wait for its foe.**

**"IF YOU HAVE FORGOTTEN"**

**Crash!**

**The final glyph, the glyph encircling the Paladin's right arm activated.**

**Moving a single step, Penny drove the gigantic fist into the Goliath's mouth as it roared, crushing teeth and breaking bone.**

**Penny's bright smile never wavered as she shifted the fist back to the energy cannon, the Goliath's jaw dislocating as the arm transformed to a much wider cannon in its mouth.**

**"Thank you," she whispered, grinning "For a wonderful time."**

**"THEN LET ME REMIND YOU."**

**Jaune raised his sword in the air with both hands and flared his aura.**

**Thunder roared as the overcharged cannon blew up the Goliath's head like an overripe watermelon; gore and offal and blood and ichor raining upon the crowd like a baptism.**

**Like a puppet with its strings cut, the headless Goliath slumped down, and the lesser Grimm began shrieking and howling.**

**"WE ARE THE FLAME!"**

"WE ARE THE FLAME!" yelled Nora, who just couldn't resist hype anymore. Jaune's parents had wide and radiant smiles on their faces, seeing their baby boy like this...

**Words were contagious, whether they came from the mouth of a hero, or the smoking barrel of a gun. The assembled roared with a forgotten fury, fists and blades punched high into the heavens.**

**"Friend Jaune," Penny tugged on his leg, "I have an idea!"**

**As soon as they emerged from the glyphs and entered this quadrant, she had felt, heard, something calling out to her from the Paladin's short-range communications. Now that they were able to calm down a little, she could finally figure out what they were.**

**They were signals.**

**Signals from fallen robots and other pieces of equipment.**

**She had, for quite some time, known that the Paladin possessed short to mid ranged communications equipment, primarily for disseminating information to squads, and also to serve as a relay for Atlesian Command to manage its automated forces.**

**What if she could be the source?**

**Unlike the last area, there were plenty of automated turrets and emplacements stationed around after all…**

**She closed her eyes and spread her will, pouring out her aura into the Paladin's comms, into waves of signal, experiencing the impulses traveling along metal and dust cords and wires and waves as if they were her own nerves.**

"That's freaky but so COOL!" Sun screamed, restraint forgotten in the face of hype. "Glynda was stunned to silence, unable to reprimand her rambunctious students.

**As the Goliath fell, Beowolves and Ursae roared, and Nevermore screeched, broken out of their shock by the death of their leader. Circling, charging and flying, converging on the Paladin like flies on meat, Atlesian and White Fang alike let out distressed cries as the Grimm charged their erstwhile leader.**

**"AND THE DARKNESS FEARS US!"**

**The Grimm were ripped apart, shredded by inhumanly accurate pinpoint gunfire before they could even touch Jaune's shining form.**

**As the Grimm leaped, claws, talons and fangs brandished, various turrets, defenses and emplacements, all automated and thought lost spun to meet them, moving on their own as if they were guided by their wielders' vengeful ghosts as loud cries and cheers erupted from human and faunus alike.**

**The loud, incoherent cheering eventually coalesced into four words, reverberating through the mountains, relentless as a storm.**

**"WE ARE THE FLAME!"**

"WE ARE THE FLAME!" Pyrrha and Velvet and Ruby and Peter had joined in.

**Miltiades's head snapped to her sister, mouthing the words "what the fuck" repeatedly.**

**Nevermore flying high in the sky were cut down by precise anti-air fire from emplacements still wet with their wielders' blood. Security cameras began blinking and moving left and right. Automated missiles, primed but not fired, were finally launched into the black tides, setting them alight.**

**More of the Grimm had roared, turning to face the Paladin, only to be cut down by disciplined and organized fire from behind.**

**"WE ARE THE FLAME!" echoed Fang and Atlesian alike, pouring dust round after dust round into the Grimm. They were packed so thick, a blind man could pick a direction and fire, and still manage to hit one of the beasts.**

"WE ARE THE FLAME!" Tai went along, as did Winter, both to Qrow's astonishment. Ruby and Yang had joined as well, making Blake flinch and Weiss look like she was somewhere between hell and looking at something very odd.

**Jaune resisted the urge to pump a fist in the air. The Fang and Atlesians stood side by side, shoulder to shoulder, forming a thin white line between the airships and the Grimm.**

**This was how it should be.**

**Still, that was only one problem solved. They were sending bullets wildly and madly, lest the incoming Grimm overwhelm them, and more poured in from the breach in the wall they had sent the Goliath in.**

**Their goal was never to exterminate the Grimm, however.**

**Raising his index finger to his ear, Jaune was pleased to find their communications finally working.**

**" – einforce the left flank!" came Kaz's voice, "Bring in whatever reserves we have, and give guns to anyone who can still fight!"**

**"Kaz, report!" Jaune's voice cut through the white noise like a dagger.**

**"Boss – I mean, Jaune!" Kaz hurriedly responded, "The Grimm are pouring in, and we cannot hold for long!"**

**"We're not planning to hold for long," Jaune responded, balance steady even as the Pennydin stomped at the horde left and right, "Just enough to get everyone to the ships!"**

**"What about the guards and soldiers?"**

**"Bring them too," Jaune declared, "And when they're on, make sure they know we're not going to hurt them."**

**"Are you – " Kaz seemed to protest before conceding, "Yes, sir."**

Ozpin smiled, seeing what kind of impact his student had. Potential had been realized, but the distinct problem here was that this one was not going to Beacon.

'_Your loss, other me._'

**As soon as they had spoken, newer, fresher waves of Grimm had begun pouring in from the breach. The Grimm charged forth recklessly, trampling their wounded allies and running into disciplined gunfire, but still, they charged, threatening to close in with the defenders.**

**The incoming wave of Grimm would've overwhelmed the beleaguered defenders had not a white meteor fallen on the darkness.**

**"HOLD THE LINE!" Jaune Arc declared, sword raised from atop his mech, positioned in front of the Fangs and Atlesians, ready to blunt any charge.**

**Another wave of Grimm had formed, Beowolves and Ursae throwing themselves to the blazing gunfire of humanity and faunus assembled. Atlesians fired white energy from their rifles, the Fangs had pumped the Grimm full of lead; Penny curled her index finger as if pulling a trigger, and all the west's automated weaponry let loose a torrent of dust and steel.**

**From high above, steely-grey Fang bullheads glinted in the low light, adding their own cannons to the fray. Flying close, they released barrels of dust, makeshift bombs into the thickest ranks of the Grimm.**

**"AS LONG AS THERE ARE STILL STARS IN THE SKY," Jaune raised a clenched fist up high, "WE WILL FIGHT!"**

**"WE ARE THE FLAME!"**

"WE ARE THE FLAME!" the Arcs and Belladonnas joined in, as did Coco and Yatsuhashi. Port was vibrating in his seat.

**Another wave charged forth from the darkness, and Penny clenched her hand into a fist.**

**The Grimm charge was forestalled as cold, metal hands clenched their legs and cold metal robot bodies began rising from the snow.**

**Like a legion of the undead, broken Atlesian Knights began crawling up to their feet and knees, visors glowing with eldritch green light. Broken arms and hands began grabbing and tripping Grimm down. Robots, broken, began operating through their limits as Penny's aura began flowing through them like freshwater.**

**"AS LONG AS THE MOON STILL SHINES," Jaune brandished his sword, "WE WILL FIGHT!"**

**"WE ARE THE FLAME!"**

"WE ARE THE FLAME!" Now the teachers chimed in, Glynda with a whisper and Ozpin with normal speaking volume, but still.

"FEARLESS LEEAAADEEEEER!" Nora could not be stopped.

**Gryphons nimbly dodged or ignored the high caliber fire from the anti-air emplacements, and with deafening screeches, ripped the turrets out from the ground.**

**Penny gasped as she felt pain jolt through her body. Eyes wide, she tried to clench the fingers on her left hand, only for her to remember that she never quite had a left arm.**

**Anti-air fire halting for a brief few seconds, Nevermore took the chance and swooped in, aiming for the shining white figure standing on the mech.**

**Before Nevermore talons could rip Jaune apart, however, the Nevermore themselves were ripped apart by red and white flashes almost too fast to see. The assembled fighters roared their approval at the display from their seemingly untouchable commander.**

**Melanie simply chuckled in amusement as Miltiades panted in exasperation.**

**"Sir," came Gaston's subdued, commanding tones, "Boarding is halfway through."**

**Almost there, Jaune thought.**

**"AS LONG AS WE DRAW BREATH," Jaune boomed, "WE WILL FIGHT!"**

**"WE ARE THE FLAME!" the soldiers and faunus shouted again.**

**"WE WILL STRUGGLE!" Jaune's voice ordered.**

**"WE ARE THE FLAME!" they shouted, louder than before, harder than before!**

**"WE WILL SURVIVE!" Jaune demanded loyalty and steel.**

**"WE ARE THE FLAME!" came their unwavering and doubtless response.**

**"WE WILL WIN!" Jaune's voice overpowered the boom of gunfire.**

**WE ARE THE FLAME!"they shouted, voices overpowering Jaune's.**

**Jaune threw both arms into the sky.**

**"LET THE GRIMM COME!"**

**Countless voices screamed their throats hoarse, their spirits soaring.**

**"LET THEM DIE."**

**The booming of guns, each pounding like a drum, like beating hearts, was the response.**

**Jaune took a quick glance at the time. Perfect.**

**"WE ARE THE DAWN!"**

"WE ARE THE DAWN!" most of the audience screamed along. This was far too awesome _not _to scream along with!

**Upon his words, the first pristine golden rays of sunlight began peering out from the horizon.**

**"Extraction 90% done, Jaune!" rang Kaz's voice in his ear.**

**The sunlight rose in the east, painting the distant mountains gold. Tired soldiers and tired faunus basked in the sight, fighting as if they were born anew.**

**This was it. They had won!**

**Still standing tall, Jaune resisted the urge to fall on his butt. The Grimm charges were waning, the intervals between each wave lengthening.**

**They had won.**

**When he was sure no one was looking, Jaune let out a long, tension-relieving breath.**

**They had won, right?**

**As the warm sunlight engulfed the snowfields, everyone burst into cheers as the jet-black Grimm bodies dissolved into smoke.**

**There were barely any Grimm left in the field, those that did, fell back with a self-preservation uncommon to their race.**

"Hell yeah!" cheered the blonde brawler. "Run you shits!" Tai couldn't reprimand her for that, for he too was taken by the action and the giddy enjoyment. All were cheering at the victory achieved that day.

**They cheer. They cheer for him. They cheer for the Fang. They cheer for Atlas. Most importantly, they cheer for themselves.**

**White Fang masks turn to Atlesian helms, eyes hidden, but mouths twisted into smiles and grins. They mutter congratulations and compliments to one another, tensions and hate momentarily forgotten. A faunus man slaps the back of an Atlesian soldier, both of them laughing. In the distance, an Atlesian medic ties bandages to a writhing Fang, at the same time Fangs cautiously carry a wounded Atlesian to the airship. Young faunus warriors mingle with old, mighty Atlesian veterans, and to the side, Jaune could spot an Atlesian soldier attempt to hit on an attractive faunus woman.**

**It was over, right?**

**The tingling in Jaune's palms had disagreed.**

**A slow rumbling from the southeast made itself known, silencing the cheers little by little.**

**Jaune knew this rumble.**

**Solemnly, slowly, surely, massive feet trudged forward, leisurely entering through the breach in the walls. The sunlight revealing its horrible form.**

**A terrible form Jaune had become acquainted with.**

**The form of a Goliath.**

**Shit.**

**The crowd had gone silent, and the rumbling did not stop.**

**Shit shit shit shit shit.**

**Another massive form entered through the breach, accompanied by the footfalls of yet another wave of Beowolves and Ursae.**

**Damn it.**

**Gryphons and Nevermore threw themselves at the automated turrets and emplacements, rendering them worthless.**

**Below him, Penny flinched.**

**Fuck.**

**The walls opposite the breach were blown apart, revealing the glaring mask of another Goliath.**

**No.**

**Grimm began seeping in from the breaches. Bereft of resistance, Nevermore and Gryphon alike flew dangerously low, forcing the bullheads back. The Goliaths seemed to pick up speed at the sight of him.**

**No, no, goddammit, no.**

**"Jaune!" Kaz's panicked voice rang in his head, "Extraction at 98%, get the fuck out of there!"**

Excitement and relief had turned to panic very fast. "Get the hell out of there, blondie!" yelled the minigunner.

"Run!" screamed Tori.

"Quickly!" most concurred.

**Time seemed to slow down again for Jaune.**

**The Grimm had advanced at them from all directions now. Atop the Paladin, he could quickly retreat back to the airships, but the remaining Fangs and Soldiers still on the battlefield wouldn't make it. Even if they all made a break for it, each of them moving under suppressive fire, they would still be caught and overwhelmed in short order.**

**In the end, there really was only one thing to do.**

**"BACK!" Jaune called out, "Back to the airships!"**

**The soldiers scrambled to comply, but Jaune did not follow them. Some of them looked back, bewildered by the absence of the mech at their sides, and released horrified gasps when they had seen where it had gone.**

**Rather than retreat, the Paladin charged forward, ready to meet the horde.**

**"Jaune!" panicked Kaz.**

**"Go!" he requested, no, ordered, "I'll hold them off!"**

**It really was the only thing to do.**

"The fu- NO!" Neptune couldn't believe it.

**In the end, the Paladin was a machine, a tool, something that could be replaced. This particular tool as well happened to be the only thing still controlling whatever emplacements remained, keeping the airborne Grimm off the airships and bullheads. This particular tool also had the same brute strength and durability to hold off the Grimm long enough for all of the humans and faunus to escape.**

**But, this particular tool also held Penny, and Penny was not a tool.**

Ruby nodded, as did Winter.

**Penny needed to remain attached to the Paladin to operate it and its command over the machines. She couldn't leave, and Jaune wouldn't abandon her.**

**He'd die before he abandoned any of his friends. Unfortunately, it looked like that decision was rapidly approaching.**

**The Paladin charged forth, stampeding the smaller Grimm, going straight for their vanguard Goliath, but for all the Paladin's speed, it had nowhere near the bulk of the Goliath, and the mech was sent tumbling back.**

**"Jaune, we're good!" called Kaz desperately, "Get over here!"**

**Jaune turned back to the airships. Nevermore and Gryphon were encircling them, attempting to get close, only held back by bursts of fire coming from Penny's controlled turrets. Jaune would not abandon the Paladin and escape, nor would he move the Paladin there and lose the only covering fire they had. Besides, a pair of Goliaths had rushed to his back, cutting him off from the airships, so even if he wanted to, that wasn't even an option.**

**"No," came Jaune's calm voice.**

**The calmness in his tone surprised him. He'd expected his voice to crack in fear by now, yet the same fatalistic ice had found its way in his veins again. If death was imminent, but struggling gave him and the others the best chance, then struggle he would.**

**"No," came Jaune's voice again, "I'll hold off the fliers and find my own way back."**

**With a heave of effort, a large Nevermore had broken another precious emplacement, silencing the drumming of the guns a little more.**

**Kaz's voice hesitated, and he asked, "Are you sure?"**

**"I am," replied Jaune, no doubt, no preamble.**

**Jaune could hear Kaz's voice hesitate again, before a tiny whisper came from the speakers.**

**"Thank you."**

Despair was prevalent now. Was he really expecting to die here? All for people he didn't even know and up until recently had fought against?

"Glynda. Ozpin." The even tone in Port's voice had an eerie quality to it. "If you dare even _think _about expelling Mr Arc, I will kick _both _your asses." His tone brokered no argument, despite the fact that Ozpin wouldn't think of it anyway.

"Kid's laying down his life for others," Qrow commented. "That's huntsman quality right there. He definitely has heart."

Pyrrha felt much better now, relishing in her own pride at her partner's actions, despair at his potential death aside.

**Jaune waved it off, as the airships shut themselves closed, and lifted off from the ground. Nevermore and Gryphons beat their wings harder, attempting to reach it, but dogged gunfire from the turrets, the bullheads, and the machine guns on the Paladin beat them off. The airships rose quickly, buffeting Jaune's face with strong winds as the large ships disappeared among the early morning clouds.**

**Welp. That was done.**

**Penny's unholy wide eyes looked up at Jaune, not understanding what just happened.**

**Jaune simply smiled serenely, and pat her on the head.**

**If it was just his own life, he would've been okay with dying, but it wasn't just his life, right? Now he had to ensure they survived.**

"Wh-" "He has a plan?!" Both Velvet and Weiss were stunned.

"Hell yeah he does!" Nora cheered once more with feeling.

**Delicate twin hands landed on both his shoulders.**

**"Like, what's the plan?" inquired Melanie, her verbal tic returning.**

**Oh yeah, right, their lives too. Of course.**

**"I, like, get the feeling you forgot about us." grumbled Miltia.**

Ynag couldn't suppress her snort.

**"Of couse not," Jaune denied vehemently, holding on to the Paladin as Penny sidestepped a rampaging Goliath.**

**Alone, the Paladin could leverage its superior speed and escape. The problem was getting out with sufficient energy reserves to get to civilization. Actually, wait, now that he thought about it, large numbers of Atlesian soldiers were lost or killed in the invasion, so perhaps there were ships or something not under use. Perhaps he could borrow some transportation…**

**"Penny," he looked in between his legs, "What do you remember of the base's layout?"**

"Stealing an airship!" Weiss gasped.

"All is fair in survival!" Sun yelled at her. Winter, while in core agreeing to that, frowned at the monkey boy.

**Keppel Azure Miller leaned on the walls of the airship bridge, disbelief still written across his face.**

**He wasn't the only one.**

**Just minutes ago, they were on top of the world, and minutes after, the last thing they saw was their leader's bright form being consumed by darkness.**

**Once the news had spread, the incessant chattering of the laborers had ceased, giving way to uneasy silence. Even the Fangs, some of them experienced veterans, looked shell-shocked, sullen, and unfocused. Ironically, it was the Atlesian Soldiers they had inadvertently rescued that were keeping them afloat, their training, experience and discipline allowing them to recover quicker.**

**A grim smile spread across Kaz's face. Had he been thinking straight, he would've kept the Atlesians held under gunpoint, lest they overrun the Fang presence on the airship, yet he hadn't done so, and the Atlesians didn't betray them.**

The watchers were amazed just how much of an impact Jaune had made on these people. Pyrrha knew for certain that she would be destroyed if she believed Jaune to be dead.

**Kaz turned up, and beheld the view right outside the airship.**

**The sunrise was brilliant, giving way to a brilliant azure blue, the mountain weather clear and relaxing for a change, as the airship flew in a sea of clouds.**

**They reminded him of Jaune's eyes.**

**Kaz put his sunglasses on.**

**He could still feel it.**

**Little over an hour ago, the Grimm had been spotted by a screening force, and they had rushed to fortified positions to attempt a defense, but the beasts were simply too numerous for them. Inch by inch, man by man, they eventually gave ground and suffered attrition. Just when he thought things couldn't get worse, the Atlesians suddenly appeared, just as dazed and confused as they were.**

**Kaz had half a mind to just make a break for it and get the airships in the sky.**

**Then he came, on a never before seen battlesuit and the power to control machines. It had to have been him, and just like a storm, he had turned the tides of the battle against the Grimm. Kaz's heart beat faster just remembering the scene, with a few words, Atlesian and Faunus had rallied together, casting aside hate and ideology and race and discrimination to drive the darkness back.**

**It was the most incredible thing he had ever seen.**

**A legendary warrior, of a heroic bloodline, capable of providing leadership so inspiring he could melt away pent-up grudges in minutes. Riding atop a veritable throne, he commanded the loyalty of men and women, human and faunus, Valean, Atlesian, Mistralian and Vacuoan, heedless of ideology and belief.**

**He was a King.**

**He was a Leader.**

"My leader."

"Mine as well," smiled Ren.

"As if there was any doubt," sighed Pyrrha in adoration.

"**Big Boss," Kaz whispered.**

**This, this was the future, wasn't it?**

**Everyone banding against the Grimm, fighting for the future, stripped of race and belief, just fighting as one.**

**That was the future.**

**And Kaz abandoned him, abandoned the future.**

**A thunderous crash reverberated through the corridors of the airship and shook the bridge.**

**"Report!" Kaz's finger went to his ear immediately, instinctually.**

**"Sir," came Gaston's clipped tones, "We're under fire."**

**Fire?**

**"Is it the Grimm?" Kaz inquired, rising to his feet.**

**Before Gaston could respond, one of the Redwing Fang members pulled up a display on the screens.**

**Kaz's eyes widened. A sleek silver ship, with protrusions on its back reminiscent of wings or fins flew gracefully behind them, cutting through the air as its cannons smoked. He knew that design.**

**They were under attack by –**

**Winter Schnee spoke, "Fire."**

"WHAT?!"

Winter couldn't believe it. What drove her other self to such an action?!

"Well, well we-" Qrow made to taunt right before he was interrupted.

"Not a word from your _filthy _mouth, Qrow Branwen! I do not pretend to know what possessed my other self to perform such a dishonorable maneuver, but rest assured that I would never stoop so low!"

The man's jaw snapped shut and the others nodded in approval of her words.

**The Atlesian Airship, a veritable sword cutting through the clouds like a bird of prey, crewed by survivors of her men, hastened to comply.**

**With a mighty burst, the ship's cannons sent blood-red lances of dust energy crashing on the White Fang transport, causing explosions to break out on the transport's rear.**

**Winter scoffed. The large distance between them and their target caused the shots to weaken. That, and the fact that they had shut off every system, every program, every instrument that could be replaced by human hands.**

**She crossed her legs on her thronelike seat. Jaune Arc was on that derelict transport, and if they threatened it, he'd counter by hacking her ship's systems. It was one thing that she'd allowed him to steal his research, and the Paladin prototype General Ironwood had given to her, but it was another thing to allow him to get his grubby paws on a military-grade Atlesian Airship.**

"Is she nuts?!" Neptune yelled, to which Winter herself responded with "Obsessed", accompanying it with a small blush. Whether she did so out of embarrassment or beginning infatuation, she could not say.

Tori was smelling proverbial blood in the water.

**The lack of tools and instruments delayed it, but no matter, the transport was taking heavy damage, very soon, it'd fall.**

**"Commander!" one of her soldiers had hailed, "We're receiving calls from the Fang transport. They're identifying themselves as our comrades, and ask for the attack to cease!"**

**Winter resisted the urge to roll her eyes. That was the best Arc could come up with?**

**"It's a trick," she declared, "Prepare to fire again!"**

"Yup, obsessed," Yang concurred, which made the heiress growl, but keep her barbs to herself.

**An ensign by her side, likely a fresh graduate from the Academy hesitated before daring to speak, "Commander Schnee, the Fang transport, if our intelligence is correct, contains nothing but faunus laborers. Can we not attempt to capture them instead?"**

**"Fat chance," The Captain remarked, "The Fang would sooner ram us than even consider surrender."**

**"The Captain is correct," Winter closed her eyes, "And should the White Fang succeed, they would recruit those faunus within their ranks and expand their violence."**

**That was part of the answer.**

Outrage was the best way to describe the emotions running rampant right now. Ghira frowned grimly at the screen while his daughter silently bemoaned the continuation of a cycle of violence.

**Winter opened her eyes, and they shone cold.**

**Jaune Arc was on that transport, and he carried with him his research. She had seen firsthand how the Arc Traitor had used the research to usurp control over Atlesian military technology, and how he was able to make use of it to deadly effect. If he had been able to use it on a prototype she hadn't even known had existed weeks ago, he would be able to use it to control any piece of Atlesian machinery, from mining equipment to its robot armies.**

**She could not allow Jaune Arc to deliver that kind of unlimited power to the Arc Traitors and the White Fang.**

**If he was capable of such potential destruction, then how much more dangerous was this power in the hands of the likes of Adam Taurus? How much damage would be done by giving the largest army in Remnant to that murderous psychopath?**

**If that fell to his hands, it was inevitable that the White Fang would seize control of their armies and throw Remnant into a bloody war. White Fang numbers would double overnight. Thousands, no, millions would die.**

**She could not allow that to happen.**

**She could not allow such death and destruction to happen, even if she had to ring the death knells the two thousand laborers fleeing from her family's yoke.**

**She had to defend Remnant.**

**She had to defend Weiss.**

**If she had to kill Jaune Arc, she would do so in a heartbeat.**

**If she had to kill thousands so millions would live, then so be it.**

"Holy _shit_, Ice Queen," grumbled the seasoned huntsman to a crestfallen Winter. She knew that those fears were somewhat justified, but to be this unreasonable? Weiss choked back a few tears at the declaration from her sister. Yes, she felt loved that her sister would be doing such for her, but the things she would do were beyond the pale.

**With a heavy heart, she gave the order.**

**"Fire."**

**The red bolts flew from her ship's smoking cannons; the red contrasting starkly from the soothing, calming blue of the clouds.**

**So that's it then, she thought, one ship, one thousand consigned to the grave, and one more ship to go.**

**But when the fire and smoke cleared, the Fang Transport itself was unharmed, and instead a white light glinted forth.**

**For an almost imperceptible moment, Winter's features widened in confusion before they narrowed in fury.**

**A familiar figure, shrouded in the dark smoke from her ship's energy cannon, emerged from the haze.**

**Complete with familiar white sword, shield, armor and cape, he stood on the cockpit of a familiar mech, which itself also stood on a very familiar ship.**

**A very familiar ship with four wings, four ailerons threading and leaving lines through the sky, looking almost like a spearhead.**

**Her ship.**

**Her smaller, faster ship.**

"That's my personal ship!" gasped the Ice Queen. Qrow laughed uproariously. Port and Tai both cheered at the blocked shot, as did Ghira and John.

**Her custom made specialist's ship that General Ironwood gave her clearance to commission.**

**The ship she was forced to abandon because all the survivors she could find had already banded up in another vessel.**

**Jaune Arc, his surroundings still smoking from the energy cannon, arms crossed, and weapons sheathed, looked directly at the bridge of her airship.**

**Winter didn't flinch, and met his gaze. He could see her from all the way over there? She had used him as a diversion to escape from the Goliath once she'd been assured of its defeat, she owed him at least a little respect.**

**Not breaking eye contact, Jaune mouthed the words, "Smoking hot."**

Eyes squinted at Winter on screen, while the Winter in the theater blushed again. Corny? Yes, but there was something endearing to it.

**Winter swore under her breath.**

**If she still needed proof of his ability to hack and control machines, this was it. If he chose to escape, her large, cumbersome airship couldn't hope to overtake the smaller airship.**

**Or could he?**

**His... Her ship dashed in front of the Fang Transport and had taken the powerful cannon barrage. She'd known the specs of her chosen airship, and she knew it was built for speed, not for taking on battleships. Indeed, the ship Jaune stole, rather than fly smoothly, lurched unevenly, black smoke seeping out.**

**The ship's speed definitely had to have taken a hit.**

**Winter smirked, the corners of her mouth twisting sharply. She had him now. **

**Plastering a cocky grin on his face, surrounded by the smoke, Jaune Arc opened his mouth, the beginnings of another lame pickup line on his tongue.**

**However, the unbalanced lurching and turning of the ship had but an unexpected consequence.**

**The lurching of the ship, coupled with his uneasiness over heights and motion sickness finally overwhelmed Jaune's inner fortitude, causing him to throw up, and empty the contents of his stomach into the air.**

"And there it is!" Yang laughed, before choking on it under a certain mother's gaze.

**The vomit turned projectile, its velocity pushed on by the speed of the ship, and splattered all over Winter's pristine bridge windshield, painting chunky orange and green shapes on the pure white material.**

**Winter Schnee released a deafeningly loud, furiously angry cry echoing in the air. Jaune could hear it all the way standing atop the Paladin, standing atop this really nice ship he found in the camp.**

Qrow keeled over laughing. "Blinded by bile!" he wheezed out, making Tai and Yang laugh.

**It was a really nice ship. It had nice kitchens and even a bathtub in one of the fancier cabins, and it flew smoother than any other airship Jaune had ridden.**

**He had found ID's and papers detailing that the ship was named "The Winds of Winter".**

**Jaune frowned. It was an impressive name, but somehow it struck Jaune as something that just wouldn't arrive on time.**

**Jaune had chosen to rename it "White Lightning".**

"It fits," Sun commented.

"Definitely, but 'Winds of Winter'..." Nep argued just as Winter herself interjected.  
"The name is fine."

Three people sensed danger.

**"Yeah, alright," Jaune whispered into the comms, "She's after us. Move, move move!"**

**"Aye, aye, captain!" crackled Penny's bubbly voice from the speakers.**

**They'd moved Penny from the Paladin to the Airship bridge, where she'd promptly let down her wires and assumed control. Apparently, the ship was made to cater to some Atlesian bigwig officer, and so the ship was capable of commanding Atlesian machinery, the Paladin included, from afar.**

**The Lightning had peeled off from the two White Fang Airships and their bullhead escort, and Winter Schnee's ship had specifically followed them, ignoring the White Fang's slower, larger ships as they lumbered away. Jaune winced, Miltia was right to convince him to ride the Paladin on top of the airship instead of relax in the warmth of the bridge. The Schnee really was obsessed with him.**

**Still, it meant they could draw attention away from the transports.**

**"Wow, Jaune," commented Melanie, "She must, like, really like you."**

**Melanie lounged in the bridge, carrying Penny in her arms, as Miltiades was bent over a toilet somewhere, apparently possessing the same motion sickness as he.**

_That _surprised Yang, making her chuckle. "Birds of a feather..."

**"Well, I wish she'd like me a little less," replied Jaune, holding his guts in.**

**The gargantuan Atlesian warship chased after the smaller Lightning as they attempted to flee, sending malice-ridden scarlet energy bolts after them with abandon.**

**They couldn't put the Lightning at its maximum speed for two reasons. One, once again, they were serving as bait for the rest of his allies. Left and right, the Lightning swerved, dodging the menacing red beams from Winter's cannons. They were dodging each shot cleanly, but it wouldn't last forever. Sooner or later, Winter's cannons would get lucky, and slowly, little by little, Winter's airship was gaining on them.**

**Still, that was pretty bad shooting. Did they turn their tools off or something?**

**Jaune could hear incoherent screaming coming from the enemy airship's bridge.**

**The second reason was that the earlier shot they had taken for the Fang Transport had already damaged and crippled the Lightning. It was a miracle, or maybe it was because of Penny, that the Lightning hadn't already burst into flames. Still according to Penny's predictions, the damage and the strain to the engine, or engines, Jaune wasn't sure, would eventually cause them to crash.**

**If they were to escape, they had to fight back!**

**"C'mon, Penny," Jaune brandished his blade, "Now's our chance! Fire!"**

"The ship has no weapons," Winter commented, making Jaune's parents and friends wince.

"Well, that can't be good," quipped Fox in a deadpan.

**"Friend Jaune?"**

**"Yes, Penny?"**

**"The Lightning possesses no weapons."**

**Damn.**

**"Ah, you sure about that? Anything we can throw at them?"**

**"Positive. Although, there appears to be something I can detach and throw at them. Shall I attempt to do so, friend?"**

**"Do it."**

No one was sure what that meant, save for Winter, who hoped that it wasn't _that_.

**A beat passed before a compartment oddly shaped like a tank was detached from the Lightning's rear, the velocity sending it hurtling right towards the vomit-covered bridge of the warship.**

**With a high-pitched clang of metal striking metal, the detached compartment burst open, covering the much-abused glass with a foul smelling brown, green, and yellow sludge.**

**"Ah," mused Jaune as the smell of days-old shit, piss and God knows what else splattered on the warship. They'd thrown the septic tank at them.**

It was.

The watchers retched at the sight, glad that the screen didn't came with some smell device.

"Does that count as biochemical warfare?" quipped Sun, to which a queasy looking specialist nodded unironically.

**Winter screamed again, in timing with the roar of her cannons.**

**Wait a minute, Jaune realized, The Lightning did have a cannon on it.**

**"Penny, bring us closer!" called out Jaune.**

**"Like, why, you gonna hit it with your sword?" mused Melanie.**

The students snickered at the image.

"I did that in my heyday," Peter laughed, to the students' astonishment. "That takes me back. Remind me to tell you all that story next time in class."

**"I got an idea!" grinned Jaune, and he whispered into the comms.**

**Winter grit her teeth again as the tiny ship evaded another salvo of dustfire. The tiny ship had been evading them right and left, moving just a tad too fast for its large cannons to track.**

**"Faster," she commanded, and the enraged Captain barked out orders to comply.**

**The huge airship was flying extremely fast now, dashing forward like an arrow. Winter's lips twitched upwards, the Arc's ship just stayed dead ahead, losing ground, well, airspace little by little. Not to mention they had a bead on him, they had a clear shot!**

**"Fire!" Winter exclaimed.**

**Right before the red bolts left the barrels of the cannons, Winter's eyes went wide.**

**The small ship slowed down suddenly, flying right in front of her own ship's bridge!**

**At the same time the Paladin's torso spun until she was face to face with Jaune Arc, and he was smiling.**

**Winter's eyes next snapped to the glowing energy cannon of the Paladin. He was going to fire at the bridge.**

_'Brilliant.' _Winter was taken by the ingenuity displayed by that so-called fake. Him attending Beacon no mater what was a lucky thing for Beacon itself.

Shame that Camp Omega had been bereft of its hero...

**Winter gasped, he was going for a simultaneous strike! Was he planning to kill them all at the cost of his life?! Could the Paladin's cannon pierce through the hull?!**

**"Jaune Arc!" she screamed out, fury lacing her every word.**

**"Winter Schnee!" he shouted back, equally furious.**

**"JAUNE ARC!" she screamed out! Even if he fired at her point blank, she would survive! She had to!**

**"WINTER SCHNEE!" he screamed.**

**"AAAAAAAARRRRRCCCCCCC!" she howled, her fearsome expression highlighted red by the glow of her cannons.**

"Nora!"  
"Ssh!"

**"Evasive action!" barked out the Atlesian Captain, and the huge ship swung away.**

**Rather than shout back, however, Jaune Arc grinned widely.**

**"Penny," he called, "Ride the Lightning!"**

"Pfft!" The punsters saw what he did there.

**"Aye, aye!" crackled Penny, and the Lightning dove, dodging the red bolts cleanly, and leaving behind glowing white trails in the sky.**

**Winter's mouth went wide. Even Atlesian AI wasn't that precise, how the hell was he controlling the ship?!**

**Slowing down, the Lightning allowed Winter's warship to overtake it, and soon it found itself hovering behind the colossal vessel, right where its thrusters and wings were.**

**Jaune whispered into the air as the Paladin trained its guns upwards, ready to clip the Atlesian Warship's wings.**

**"Ferrum Mors."**

**Iron Death. This Paladin, this weapon, truly had served him well. It only felt fitting to christen it as a true Arc weapon.**

The Arcs in the audience nodded full of pride.

**"Gotcha."**

**The Paladin fired its last vestiges of energy into the ship's right wings and thrusters, causing a chain of explosions to rumble across the warship's sleek figure. Not enough to have it crash down on the ground, but enough to rob it of its flight and send it falling to the ground slowly.**

**With a mighty groan, the warship leaned to its right, and nosedived for the ground, falling to the clouds below.**

**Well, relatively slowly.**

**Hey, at least they would survive.**

**Winter Schnee looked up, glaring at his form, his cape fluttering across the sunlit clouds like gold.**

**She would pay him back for that humiliation. She swore.**

**Someday.**

**Someday she would see him again. She just knew it.**

**Beneath shit, piss, and vomit-stained glass, Winter glared at Jaune, her eyes promising him pain.**

**"I'll see you soon, Jaune Arc."**

'_Indeed I will,_' Winter thought with entirely different intentions than her on-screen counterpart.

**Jaune, on the other hand, looked down, a strange expression, somehow encompassing both joyfulness, thankfulness and wistfulness on his face. Solemnly, his mouth opened to respond.**

**"Always knew you'd fall for me, Snow Angel."**

Winter blushed once more, Weiss rolled her eyes to infinity, the punsters laughed and Pyrrha groaned internally. "It's first semester all over again," she whispered to herself.

**The smoking wreck of the warship descended, disappearing under the golden clouds below until there was nothing in the air to mark its passing.**

**Jaune beheld the vision in front of him. It was just him, the mech, the Twins, Penny, and the Lightning, adrift in an infinite sea of clouds, facing the clear golden sky of morning.**

**Jaune let out a deep breath, savoring the warm morning winds caressing his tired body. He'd never seen such a brilliant sight before, for the only thing he usually saw in airships were the insides of a vomit bag or a trash can.**

**He felt relieved, he felt happy, he felt... tired.**

**It was over. It was finally over.**

**They'd won.**

**"Where to, friend?" asked Penny.**

**Jaune looked to the sunrise.**

**"Home, Penny," He whispered, "Back to Vale."**

**Gently, Penny turned the airship towards the south, and the ship cruised in the air, back towards Vale, back towards home.**

**A little smile crept up Jaune's face.**

**"Ride the Lightning, Penny."**

**As soon as he spoke those words, a small explosion rocked the ship and shattered his illusion of peace.**

**Oh, right, Winter shot a hole through the ship.**

**Motherfucker.**

"Shit." was the general mood.

**Jaune held on to Ferrum Mors for dear life as the machine lost its balance and spun to the ground below.**

**Hei Xiong Junior's blood ran cold, washing away the drowsiness in panic.**

"Oh, scene change!"

**It was the dead of night, and someone had somehow gotten past his security, and knocked on the door of his most secure safehouse. Losing contact with the guards outside, Junior had expected the worst, and carried his club with him, holding it protectively.**

**It was now or never. **

**With a mighty kick, Junior opened the door, hoping to catch his assailants off guard.**

**The mighty dust-steel door slammed open, and with a thud, crashed into something, or someone.**

**"Gah!" cried an effeminate voice.**

**Junior gaped, he knew who that voice belonged to.**

**"Jaune?"**

**"Yesh, ish be," muttered Jaune, clutching his nose tightly, a steady trickle of blood dripping from it.**

Tori laughed, but it wasn't the carefree, joyous one she made heard before. This one steadily dropped in octaves before concluding in a growled tone:  
"Motherfucker."

Ghira wanted to comment on that, but saw the expression on his friend's face. He apparently _really _liked hearing her swear. Seriously, he had heart eyes and everything!

**Shit, the kid looked like he had been mugged. His pretty cape was gone, and so was his hoodie. Clad in his torn up pants, dirty boots, and armor, he looked like some sort of sex offender.**

**"What are you doing here, what are yo –" Junior's eyes darted around.**

**Clutching his shoulder and waist respectively, were the tired forms of Miltiades and Melanie Malachite, the two girls who were like sisters, no, daughters to him.**

**Junior's first reaction was instant relief. They'd been missing for a day but the girls were safe!**

**Junior's second reaction was fear. Cold, numbing, bowel-clenching, fear.**

**Junior froze.**

**The biggest thing he noticed was that except for their weapons, his girls were completely naked, desperately trying to cover up with single pieces of clothing. Melanie was shivering into a very familiar white cloak, while Miltia was pulling down a very familiar black hoodie down to cover her legs.**

**Junior blinked, uncomprehending.**

Tai caught on. "Um."

"Hm?" Kali looked over.

"It kinda looks like...er..." He wasn't wholly sure how to say it.

**Both girls' hair was mussed up, like someone had run hands through them. Their eyes were weary and sunken, like they had just gone through a traumatic experience. Their bodies were slick, glistening with sweat and grime as if they had just performed strenuous physical activity. Their fair skins were rife with marks that looked like something or someone had bitten into it. The color of their skin was flushed red, covered in lines like someone had tried to attack them with a bladed weapon, or a whip. They smelled dirty, musty, like they'd been sweating and doing something the whole day.**

**Junior's eye twitched.**

**Miltiades was limping.**

Now everyone caught on. Four- wait, _five _girls blushed, from lightly to furiously, and Ghira sucked in a breath.

"Now I see what you mean."  
That can't be good," John concurred.

**They say that hell hath no fury like a woman scorned, well, whoever they were, clearly hadn't met said woman's dad.**

**What did Jaune do to them?!**

**"Salutations!" spoke Jaune's backpack.**

**Everyone could hear something snap.**

**Junior punched Jaune in the face.**

The blonde father just sighed. "Yeah, I would do that too," he admitted as the screen turned black.

"That was AWESOME!" Sun yelled.

"Who's up for the last pick?!" Ruby cheered, working on the energy from before. More cheers were her answer.

* * *

**Apologies for taking so long, but Real Life went down.**


	6. Chapter 6

**Oh!**

**Yeah, writer's block is a bitch and a half to deal with, hence this one.**

**You...may end up surprised midway through due to the source material, which I got permission to use.**

**Thanks, Azure!**

**RWBY is property of RoosterTeeth/Monty Oum. 'Dreaming Of A Happily Ever After' is written by Azure Gigacyber over on Ao3.**

The strange library

Chapter 6: Who likes shipping?

"Whooh!" Everyone was pumped up after the last one, hyping over what they've seen just now. All they wanted was to watch more of these things; they were way too much fun!

Unfortunately, time was running out for today.

"One more, and then we have to leave," Kali sighed. "Duty calls and all that." Her arms were firmly around Blake, pressing her daughter against her in a hug, making the latter look every bit like a moody cat.

"Same," Tai laughed. "I was actually about to cook some food when Qrow came in asking for a bite."

"Eh."

Glynda, however, just looked to the ceiling in a vain search for mercy. "It's paperwork for us."

"Oooor," Nora drawled. "You could just stay here and avoid all these issues."

"Nora." Ren put a stop to that immediately. "We can't keep them."

"Besides," Blake chimed in, fake-musingly. "We could tell Jaune all about what we saw here..."

"Sold!"

"We also have to discuss the matter of his transcripts. _At length._"

"Weiss, you don't have to torture him over this."

"I will do it if it turns out he did it for some shallow objective, Ruby!"

"Did you even pay attention, Weiss-Cream?"

"Children!" Tori interrupted any argument. "Just bring him here tomorrow. We, er..." she looked nervously to her husband. "We have some apologizing to do, it seems."

Pyrrha approved, stating he would come with next time.

"So...what is the last one again? Something something happy afters?" Coco questioned around.

Her answer, as usual to the point of it being a running gag, was the screen flaring up out of nowhere, signaling the next one.

**In the world of Remnant and within the kingdom of Vale, it was currently night time and the luminous glow of the shattered moon bathed the scenery beautifully. Many citizens, both huntsmen students and civilians alike were snugly sleeping in their beds blissfully dreaming of various realities of their long wanted wishes for what they wanted in life.**

People shrugged. "Sometimes," Qrow admitted. Pyrrha, meanwhile, got the meaning of the title now.

"Does that man we get to see others dreams?"

Yang froze in her seat. "Please no," she whimpered, a nervousness Coco pounced upon. "Oh? Something embarrassing?"

"I like my privacy!" No one needed to know about her wet dreams, please and thank you!

**Inside the school of Beacon Academy itself there was a sudden curtain of soft golden light emanating from somewhere within the main building. It circled around the perimeter then flashed away in a blinding transcendent light disappearing without a trace. All who were within its range at the time were about to have some rather unusually realistic strange dreams in store for them. Many of them being of secret heartfelt wishes for certain loves of their lives, quite a few pertaining to one distinct student slumbering inside the school.**

"Gee, I wonder who it could be," mused Fox jokingly as he looked, well, 'looked', at Velvet. Pyrrha was blushing as well.

**The first of which happens to be the famed Pyrrha Nikos of Team JNPR. A beautiful teenage girl that was also a fierce warrior in battle. With popularity, beauty, and a sweet personality she was the eye of many admirers, but the girl herself only had her eyes on one particular blonde boy she was partners with.**

It goes without saying that Pyrrha was blushing furiously at her own description.

**Jaune Arc, her leader, partner, and close personal friend that had been taught everything he needed to know by her. At the moment she doesn't quite yet have his affections or his sexual interest, excluding that Pyrrha herself made no obvious moves prior to spell it out that she was in love with him, she does hope that one day that all changes and he welcomes her into his arms romantically. Just the thought alone sent pleasant jitters of happiness up her spine. One way or another she'll truly have him all to herself someday, but as of right now things were simply platonic between them despite their closeness. Pyrrha would be content with that until it someday changes.**

**But then the dream happened….**

"The dream," Nora intoned with drama and feeling. "Wonder what it's about. Ooh, maybe a date?!" Pyrrha silently approved.

"Or something a little more saucy," Yang drawled, making Pyrrha disapprove due to, well, the fact that there are many non-her people who could potentially see her doing _that._

Glynda came to the same conclusion and raised her concerns. "What should we do in case this gets...not safe for work?"

Ozpin's answer to that was a curt and serious "Vacate the room."

**Inside Team JNPR's Dorm room…**

**Lying comfortably on her back and sleeping soundly in her bed was Pyrrha herself, her blazing red hair splayed out underneath her shoulders granting her a pseudo-angelic appearance to go along with her beauty. After the strange light from earlier had enveloped her body in the strange heavenly glow a very special 'Dream' began to take place inside her mind. One that will permanently change how she approaches things with the object of her affections.**

"It begins!" cackled the Valkyrie, to the distress of others.

'_Just a dream, just her dream, she can do everything she wants in her own dream..._'

"**Hmm? Where am I?" Pyrrha asked herself once she opened her eyes to see the polished wooden ceiling she woke up under. Raising herself up off the bed she and back in to consciousness she rubbed her eyes thinking she had woken up somewhere else. Thoughts of worry didn't cloud her mind for some reason, despite being in an unknown location, as she looked around to see she was in a master bedroom inside someone else's home.**

"Whoa, first person?" Sun was surprised at the change of perspective.

"Also different room." Weiss frowned. "Do you recognize this room, by any chance?"  
"I have never seen it, no."

"**This is...wrong. Is this a dream perhaps?" She said to herself attempting to get up but then suddenly halted when she noticed something different about her. She was taller, more filled out beautifully and apparently with a grown woman's fit lovely body. She even had bigger breasts.**

Neptune, predictably, was drooling. So was Coco, except she was more discreet about it. Still, Velvet noticed and gave an exasperated sigh. Pyrrha stared dumbfounded at her new proportions.

'**What…is this?!' She shrieked mentally with blushing cheeks as she felt up her chest through a red nightie noticing it was a cup larger than she remembers. Whereas she had a firm set of C cups bordering on D, with face red she turned to look at a vanity mirror noticing her hair was shorter and draping along her shoulders loose and free. She also noticed she resembled more of her mother Andromeda than she remembered, causing her to question her circumstances even more.**

"Future Vision!"

"Damn, P-Money, that hair is not too shabby." Hearing this, she questioned herself if she would actually cut her hair like that.

'_Maybe...if he likes it._'

"**Am I...older? What exactly happened to me-"**

"**Surprise!" The door slammed open startling her and revealing a tall handsomely rugged blonde man that seemed very familiar to her, he was accompanied by three young children having red and blonde hair.**

"**Aah!" Pyrrha yelped out startled and reacted like they were strangers that kidnapped, her confusing the kids and the man until she took a brief moment to realize who they looked like. "J-Jaune...?"**

**The man smiled ruggedly and patted the backs of two of the kids pushing them to rush forward carrying a tray of freshly made breakfast. These two little tykes resembled a young ten-year old looking mini version of Pyrrha with a short ponytail and red hair. She had blue eyes, wore Jaune's signature hoodie in a small size, and had cute little jean shorts showing off her little legs as they patted over to the side of the bed. The little boy however looked like a far younger Jaune, but with bashfulness and her own green eyes. He was an adorable little boy that looked to be eight years old and clutching a runny rabbit doll resembling Pumpkin Pete.**

As Tori inhaled for the squealing of a lifetime, Pyrrha turned into the picture perfect example of pure happiness. Stars in her eyes and a massive smile plastered on her face she lightly leaned forward to witness a vision of her future family! It was like Dustmas and her birthday all in one!

"GRANDBABIES!"

Oh yeah, and Tori was celebrating as well, to the brief dismay of the faunus in earshot.

Yang couldn't help it, as well. "You make cute children together," she giggled as she looked at the adorable Mini-Jaune with the plushie. Weiss did her very best to alternate between gasping like a fish and cooing over the toddler in grown-up Jaune's arms.

Speaking of him, the girls that liked him decided that he looked _real sexy_.

'_Help help help help. Wet dreams incoming_.'

**Pyrrha's heart warmed at the sight of them as, little by little, she pieced together what she was seeing. Her very own family with Jaune.**

"**Well of course it's me, didn't think I surprised to the point of having a heart attack, but we did want to make your mother's day special by cooking you breakfast, honey." Jaune started chuckling as he held the youngest child, an absolutely cute infant of the age of three, in his broad muscular right arm. The little boy was with red hair like Pyrrha's and cutely sucking on it s thumb as Jaune approached.**

Pyrrha was suddenly overcome with the immediate and inexplicable urge for family planning. Somewhere, a certain blonde felt endangered.

'**T-t-that's Jaune…! But older! And so handsome! And they are my children?!' Pyrrha thought with excitement and surprise as she was now considering this to be the greatest dream she ever had in her life. Her heart was throbbing and glowing with happiness, although part of her was still adjusting to the fabricated reality she was experiencing. She was afraid she'd wake up at any moment now, but considering that it felt so real to her another part of her was believing this to be more than a dream. What it was she did not want it to end anytime soon.**

"Nope!"

"**We made you breakfast, mommy. What do you think? Did we do good?" The little girl asked with a cute hopeful face, eyes sparkling and cheeks puffing in absolute cuteness. Pyrrha felt like melting down upon seeing it, then the little boy looked up as well and smiled eagerly at their mother as Jaune came close to her side wrapping an arm around her shoulders.**

These kids were just adorable and the girls had to reluctantly agree to that. Still wouldn't stop them from doing something similar.

"**Happy Mother's day, mom. We love you." The little boy squeaked out shyly earning a chuckle from Jaune and Pyrrha.**

**Pyrrha's mind froze as she struggled to register all of this, but soon she smiled sweetly and leaned over to give the kids each a kiss on their foreheads earning their giggles.**

"**I think she likes it, kids. Athena, you go and call Uncle Ren and Auntie Nora to tell then when to come over for tonight, and Johnathan you go get the dessert we prepared for mommy's special day. Ready Team family? Let's go!" Jaune pumped excitedly like the Team leader he always was.**

"**Yes, Sir!"**

"**Okay, daddy!" The kids chimed with fists in the air and scrambled to get those tasks accomplished. Such a sight was incredibly adorable to Pyrrha as she watched them before turning over to 'Husband'.**

"We are Uncle and Aunt! WOO!"

"Did you doubt it?"

"Well, with Jaune-Jaune being so dense..."

"He's only dense because Cereal Girl isn't aggressive enough!" yelled Coco from a few seats over, making the girl in question blush in embarrassment this time. Ghira smiled at the names.

"Looks like your grandson bears your name, John...John?"

To the surprise of everyone, the PatriArc didn't respond verbally. Instead he, with a watery smile on his face, started to cry silently, his heart full. Tori cooed over his reaction and hugged him close.

**She took in Jaune's appearance and noticed he really became a rugged yet boyishly good looking hunk of a man. He had a bit of blonde stubble around his jaw, his features were more prominent such as his built up body, yet through it all he trained that same boyish charm he always had in those bright innocent eyes. Pyrrha really felt her heart beat loudly inside her chest the longer she looked at him.**

"My, someone has it bad," Tori teased with Kali giggling and cooing over the toddler in Jaune's arms.

"**Happy Mother's Day, Misses Pyrrha Arc." He chuckled and leaned in cupping her chin as his lips interlocked with hers for a sensational kiss.**

**Pyrrha's eyes were wide in wonder and surprise once their lips met, she was over the shattered moon and internally jumping with joy as she lovingly kissed the love of her life. The infant cradled in his arm continued sucking its thumb cluelessly as it hugged itself closer to its daddy's chest watching the show. Pyrrha then closed her eyes and melted into the lip-lock with all the joy in her heart as she tasted Jaune on her lips. She cherished this to its fullest as they continued making out sweetly for several minutes before breaking off leaving her face flush and smiling.**

Pyrrha laid sideways in her seat, slightly vibrating and squealing in happiness while others looked on in jealousy. Nora just giggled along with Ren giving a kind-natured chuckle.

"**Heh, you're acting like it's the first time we kissed on the top of Beacon rooftop all over again." Jaune chuckled as Pyrrha blushed averting her eyes.**

'**It was at Beacon? It was at Beacon!' She mentally rejoiced as Jaune pulled off the covers and offered his hand to get out of bed. Pyrrha took it gleefully and hugged her husband fondly placing her head into his chest. She felt the tapping of the baby's hands play with her causing her to gush warmly at it before slowly pulling herself back.**

There was no describing Pyrrha's happiness at this point.

"**I'm gonna take a shower and freshen up a bit. Think you can watch the kids, like a good leader-dad does?" She asked sweetly earning a soft chuckle from him.**

"**Of course, honey, but they pretty much watch themselves these days. Well, except for little Patroklos here." Jaune gestured to the infant in his arm. "I'll go and supervise anyway, want to make sure the house is clean and ready before our night alone together."**

"My grandfather's name," she whispered with a gigawatt smile still plastered on her face. Yang couldn't resist commenting on it.

"Wonder if we have to prepare the ear plugs," she whispered to Blake, making her imagination run wild.

**At this Pyrrha blushed vehemently and blinked several times in stupor after hearing the words; 'Alone Together'. Trying not to look like an amnesiac in front of her husband, she simply nodded and rubbed little Patroklos's cheek affectionately. The little two year old raised its little hand toward her attempting to grab her fingers, making Pyrrha's heart melt even further as Jaune raised him close to her face.**

Ovaries: exploded. At least with the mothers.

"**So….we are having a special dinner tonight, Jaune? Just for me?" She questioned whimsically without sounding forgetful.**

"**Well, not just a dinner, and trust me, that'll be the last thing on your mind once we get to our special night together alone in the bedroom." Jaune answered charmingly with a suave confident voice that made Pyrrha want to faint right there and then. "Even if I am a great cook and the dinner will be awesome. Welp, c'mon, little guy. Let's go watch your brother and sister downstairs before we finish up the house and turn in to the television."**

The first line made Pyrrha swoon and become near-unstoppably horny. Ruby was actually preparing some form of countermeasures against Arkos setting sail. Not on her watch!

Unbeknownst to her, Pyrrha was hatching a plan of her own...

**Jaune then casually walked out the room and quickly pointed a thumb to the breakfast tray seated at the bed. "Don't forget to eat that, honey. The kids really worked at it like pros, but someone had to put out numerous small fires. Just saying."**

**With that he whipped out of sight earning a giggle from her. Pyrrha then turned to the mirror and analyzed herself. She looked older, hardly any wrinkles whatsoever, she was the spitting image of her mother except with green eyes and longer hair. She brought up her right hand showing the wedding ring on it, it had a gold and white design just like Jaune's usual armor, but with half of it being elegantly strewn in bronze and red. Pyrrha's colors. It looked beautiful and shimmered in any reflection of light.**

Jealousy levels were slowly reaching their peak while scheming occurred. Take a wild guess as to who does what.

**She held it close to her chest clutching it like a sacred treasure and went over to the bed to quickly eat the breakfast her children made for her.**

'**I still can't believe it. Is this the most lucid, most realistic dream ever had or is it somebody's semblance affecting me somehow? Everything feels so real, so remarkably real as if I just skipped ahead nearly twenty years into my life without any memory of what happened in-between!' She thought still wrapping her mind around all of this as she chewed the delicious scrambled eggs the kids made for her. She hummed tastily and was impressed by their cooking ability despite such a young age.**

**She felt that Jaune must've taught them well, he always was a decent cook once Ren decided to teach him the basics. He had a one-week strike of cooking Nora's pancakes because she ate more than he could produce. Pyrrha chuckled when recounting the memory, then she looked around her bedroom and noticed all the photos of herself and all her friends from Beacon, as well as some other unfamiliar faces. Finishing her food she quickly wiped her face and got up to take a look.**

"Oh, I remember that! Dark times..."

"You make it sound like Jaune's pancakes were bad," Ren pointed out.

"Well, nothing beats your pancakes! But still, Jaune-Jaune is a pretty neat cook."

"Well, we kinda didn't teach him how to cook pancakes..."

The girls whipped to the mother. "Wait what?/Pardon?/I'm sorry?"

She laughed it off. "Oh, he was taught how to cook. We thought it would impress the girls!"

"Well, it certainly impresses me!" boasted the spartan uncharacteristically, except not really. She knew that she wasn't allowed anywhere near the kitchen after the last time she tried to make noodles.

No, she had no explanation why she thought they belonged in a pressure cooker, either.

**On her dresser there were many picture frames with photos of Team JNPR during their first year, then them again with slightly altered outfits indicating a second or third year. Jaune had modeled his armor like hers and with a more improved stylish design making him look tougher. Nora looked great with longer hair, and Ren looked like a mystique rogue with his hair being longer than hers. Their outfits were different and Pyrrha saw her younger self wearing a black and bronze version of her outfit, except with her hair undone and flowing freely.**

Coco looked at these outfits with an appraising eye, nodding in approval, while a certain hammer wielder was gushing over their looks. Pyrrha herself committed her own look into her memory.

"Damn, looking good there," Sun praised with a thumbs up. Neptune nodded along, if only for Pyrrha and Nora. Dude might have needed some self-assessment in the near future.

'**Oh my, I can hardly recognize myself. It looks more like a twin sister than a younger me, is that design something I will create? I must admit it is elegant, noble, and rather sexy. Maybe that's when Jaune takes notice and finally asks me out? Or do I ask him out after gathering the courage?' She found herself running through a million questions all at once.**

Now Pyrrha memorized every detail, making sure to recreate that look.

**She then looked next to her team photos to see Ruby's team, before and after. They all looked so different yet still the same. Yang had short hair with two long ponytails in the back, she wore what looked like a biker girl's outfit consisting of a short sleeve jacket, goggles, and shorts. Pyrrha was mortified to see she had a prosthetic arm in place of her right arm, not wanting to think on it further she then looked to Ruby, who was taller, wore her usual red hood but in a stylized cape-like manner. Her hair was longer and styled in a low-ponytail, her body also had grown to match Weiss, who dressed like she was a military commander of Atlas. She wore white all over in an elegant ivory design with long hair tied down in an elegant bun with bangs over her forehead. Blake looked largely unchanged, save for a flowing black and white cloak hanging off her shoulders with arms exposed, and Sun happily hugging around her neck from behind.**

The jaws were dropped on anyone who knew the blonde brawler, very much including she herself. Her uncle forgot about the sip he took and let it flow out of his open mouth in shock. "Wha..."

"There are so many things happening there..." her father gasped.

"Why do you have a prosthetic?" Ruby nearly shrieked in worry.

"Your hair..." Weiss had no words beyond that. Yang caught herself and gave her ultimate verdict on her look. "Well, the outfit rocks, but I'm _not _going for that hairstyle!"

Sun, meanwhile, was a happy camper, seeing another him apparently successfully hooking up with Blake. Ghira, naturally disapproved with a frown, making his wife sigh.

**Pyrrha sighed and let out a soft chuckle, glad to have visited some semblance from the past while wondering what she was doing here in this ultra-realistic dream.**

**Shaking her thoughts she proceeded into the bathroom to shower. Removing her clothes she noticed she was filled perfectly into an absolute full-bodied form.**

"Oh no." She was blushing. "ohnoohnooh NO!"

The men looked upwards to the ceiling, save Neptune, who tried to shamelessly peek, only to get slugged by Sun. The women stared at them, daring to look at the screen.

Particularly because it had _no censoring at all._

'**Oh my goodness, my body is...bigger. I still feel my muscular structure, no fat or scarring can be seen anywhere. And my hips have gotten a little slimmer, not to mention my rear. It's….wider, in a rather curvaceous manner if I do say so myself.' Pyrrha surmised as she analyzed her naked body. What she felt was her biggest surprise was her breasts have grown into full-blown E cups, eliciting another fierce blush on her face as she finished checking herself out and proceeded into the shower.**

"Meep." It went without saying that the Invincible Girl was very embarrassed. On the other hand, Jaune had something to look forward to as well.

**Feeling the waters splash against her body made her feel as if this wasn't a dream, maybe more fearfully she was at this state in her life and suffering some form of Alzheimer's. She shook her head of those dark thoughts and focused on what Jaune might be doing for their night alone together.**

"**Oohh, just the thought of tonight is making my head foggy. Eeeeee!" She squealed giddily and hugged her face in her hands and shook around with giddiness. 'If this dream is real then I never want to wake up!'**

'_You and me both._'

**After showering and coming downstairs, Pyrrha was greeted by the sight of Papa Jaune sitting with his three kids on the couch of their living room watching television. Little Athena curled up in a ball resting against his side while Johnathan played with his stuffed bunny on the ground next to the couch. Jaune continued holding Patroklos in his strong arm cradling him as he slept. It was such an adorable sight that melted Pyrrha's heart as she descended down the stairs, taking in the scenery of her polished wooden house that was a mix of both luxury and modesty in its design, and approached her family while wearing only salmon colored shorts and a yellow tank top.**

"**Hey there you are, c'mere and snuggle with us, dear. We're just about to watch Velvet's magical performance hour right now." Jaune welcomed and outstretched his arm inviting her in while gesturing to Athena to scoot over. The little girl puffed her cheeks cutely and grumbled at being moved from her 'comfy spot' next to Daddy, allowing Pyrrha to cuddle next to Jaune and hug the cutely pouting redhead girl next to her.**

At first, everyone was rather taken by the homely image before them; the men, John in particular, were rather happy that the questionable scene was over and they got to wholesomeness. Tori was off to lala land, same as Pyrrha, who savored everything about this, while the already named others stewed in their jealousy. Up until Velvet fully registered what was said.

"My magic what now?"

"Oh, Bun-Bun's a TV-magician? Complete with sexy outfit?"

"COCO!"

**The little boy Johnathan saw his mother and ran off in a cute pitter patter of feet over to the kitchen, Pyrrha kept her adoring gaze on him as he returned with a plate carrying a slice cheesecake dessert on it. Pyrrha's favorite apparently.**

"**Thank you, Johnathan. There's my little boy." Pyrrha giggled rubbing his little head and making him giggle happily she took it.**

Squeals abound, diabetes contracted.

**Sitting back and eating her sweetened piece of cake Pyrrha's mind went back to theorizing how this all came to be. Still writing it all off as a dream, a very realistic and lucid one, she simply went along with it for now and wondered about Nora and Ren coming over.**

"**Oh right, I already told Uncle Ren and Aunt Nora about tonight, dad. They're gonna be here around seven thirty." Athena chirped cutely when looking up at her father. Jaune just nodded with a smile and rubbed her head, making her gush and giggle, as he pulled both Pyrrha and Athena closer together in a family huddle on the couch.**

"YES!" Nora did a happy dance. "We are honorary uncle and aunt!"

"Of course," replied Pyrrha absent-mindedly, still mesmerized.

**The television came on revealing Velvet Scarlatina wearing a sexy magician outfit with fishnet leggings and a top hat. She hardly looked different save for being taller and looking filled out. She performed various 'magical' acts using her camera weapon as well as other props wowing the family of five as they watched in comfort.**

"YES!"

"NOOOO!"  
"Whoa."

Velvet wanted to crawl someplace and hide after getting seen like that. Then her mind came up with the image of performing a "cloth-vanishing trick" for her crush and went on lockdown.

**Pyrrha couldn't be happier as she snuggled up next to her husband clutching his hand affectionately.**

**Later, after spending some time with the family and playing with the kids, slowly getting accustomed to it all with unbridled happiness welling inside of her, Pyrrha was then greeted by the surprise of both Ren and Nora arriving on their doorstep.**

**Jaune opened the door revealing a mustache wearing Lie Ren with long hair tied into a low ponytail resembling his father. Nora simply had shoulder length hair now and looked more womanly, she had the entire 'Wild Fun Aunt' theme just airing around her. Athena looked to her for guidance and knowledge, which admittedly frightened Pyrrha a little considering she liked to blow things up for fun. Shy Jonathan looked to Ren for guidance and peace of mind seeing as they were both the quiet gentle types.**

"wWh-wh-wh-" Yang sputtered out before laughing. "What the fuck is that 'stache?!"

"Language!"

"It's a traditional style..."

"Heee, it's nice how we fill out our roles, huh, Renny?"

John kept smiling, watching his small grandson running about being cute and completely ignoring his wife, who started smiling like a maniac and scheming for the future.

"**Well, you two are looking ready for your evening here. We're glad to take the children off your hands for tonight." Ren said with a gentle smile.**

"**Yeah! We've got a whole fun night planned with these little rugrats. I've been itching to do Red Vs Blue pillow fort warfare for a while now. Hoo boy will the living room be a mess of pillow when we're done." Nora cheered out with a toothy excited grin.**

"**I call red!" Athena chirped out cutely.**

"**I call blue!" Jonathan spoke up loudly, both kids were eager to throw down with the 'Queen of the castle' Nora as she likes to often call herself.**

"**Oy, I will have such a mess to clean up later." Ren sighed earning some laughter from Jaune and Pyrrha. The baby infant Patroklos reached a hand over to Ren's slumped head and patted it in support.**

More diabetes.

"Yay! Pillow fight!"

"Nora, if that ever happens, you will watch out for how hard you will throw them," Ruby tried. "Right?"

"Of course!" replied the bombastic ginger. "I'm a responsible aunt!"

Ren, meanwhile, smiled a Patroklos trying to comfort him.

"**Well we won't let you down, you two! Now go on and have a nice dinner, then hehe knock boots like it were your twentieth anniversary all over again." Nora added with a winking gesture causing Pyrrha to blush and Jaune to nod thankfully.**

"**Nora! Don't say that in front of the kids." Pyrrha stammered vehemently as her friend waved it off with a chuckle.**

"**Ah, they don't know what I'm talking about." Nora dismissed with a smile as Ren took the bag of supplies for the youngest such as snacks, toys, and diapers, from Jaune. Nodding their thanks Jaune and Pyrrha waved them bye as they then left with the kids.**

A very un-Pyrrha-like sound emerged, making Nora jump in her seat and the other look to her, this time with mild worry. Said redhead was starting to breathe heavily...

**Once the door was closed Jaune turned to his wife Pyrrha and pulled her into his arms again for another deep passionate embrace. Pyrrha instantly melted into his arms as she wrapped hers around his neck pulling herself up closer to his body. Their lips entwined gently with unrestrained passion ad they held each other closely melting into each others world without a care for the outside.**

**Jaune hummed deeply as he expertly swirled his tongue around inside his wife's mouth, Pyrrha was on the receiving end enjoying every single minute of it and finding her body ignite with growing pleasure. Her mind this was a dream come true in every possible instance, so much so that she'll dread waking up to reality, regardless of how real this dream felt. She tasted every bit of Jaune, smelled his essence and knew it to be really him. The warmth he exuded from his body made her feel comfortable while she gingerly pulled apart his lips romantically with her mouth.**

**The pair hummed and softly moaned together in their embrace for several minutes until eventually they ceased their makeout session, leaving Pyrrha's face flushed and happy.**

"**Well if that did you wonders, then honey, you'll love tonight." Jaune stated with a confident smirk and cradled her chin. "I'm gonna go and get dinner started then, I'm cooking your favorite; Mistral cooked salmon with salad and sides of white rice."**

The sound returned, now even louder and more lustful. Meanwhile, the other girls - yes that includes Yang and Blake and Weiss this time - were blushing at the wild tongue action on screen. Tai was secretly happy that he didn't see something regarding his daughters-

Oh no, there was one featuring them someplace, wasn't there?

Now he _had_ to stick around to seek and destroy any copies.

**Pyrrha felt herself salivate at the mention of it. She was surprised to hear that he could cook it with confidence when it was a recipe only her father knew how to cook just right.**

"**Oh I am looking forward to it, honey. I'll go upstairs and prepare 'that' for what happens afterwards." Pyrrha cooed seductively making Jaune blush and nod before heading into the kitchen to prepare the meal.**

**Pyrrha skipped up the stairs back to the bedroom to ready the lingerie piece she saw earlier labeled 'That'. She knew Jaune knew what she was talking about and it made sense why he would be flustered about it.**

**She took it out of the closet and removed the protective wrap revealing an extremely provocative lingerie set that left nothing to the imagination. It had no bra or straps to cover her breasts up, it was attached to short transparent upper body veil colored in red, and the part covering her mound was thinner than even a G-string.**

Mouths were dry, as no one had an apt comment for such a racy set of lingerie. Up until Coco spoke up. "Kinky~"

Ruby and Velvet both decided to step up their game. Winter contemplated requesting a transfer to Vale as, say, Assistant Combat Instructor. Nominally for building her already impressive resume and widening her horizons.

Though everyone that knew what was going on in her head would know that that was as bold-faced a lie as a fat font on the first page of a book that read "This is a TV".

"**My! When did I purchase this anyway? Where did I get it from?" She questioned feeling a deep blush on her cheeks as she continued to look at it. Deciding to condition her hair and make herself up for tonight, Pyrrha spent about half an hour fixing herself up to look even more dazzling for dinner with her husband. She put on her green eyeshadow, applied some soft pink lipstick, blushed her cheeks, and curled her eyelashes.**

"Your ass is mine..." Yup, nora was now a little scared of Pyrrha. For Pyrrha, too.

**By the time Jaune was finished preparing the meal downstairs Pyrrha walked down the steps wearing an elegant red dress sashed around the back of her neck. The sexy lingerie she chose was worn underneath it ready to be revealed once she takes her dress off.**

**Jaune was seen lining up forks and knives and preparing two glasses of wine while she watched adoringly from atop the banister.**

'**Haaa, like a true gentlemen. He really has changed into the perfect man I always knew he could be, yet he's still Jaune alright. My Jaune, and whatever this dream is or whenever it ends I'm determined to enjoy it to its fullest.' She settled with herself as she watched Jaune finish the setup before looking up at her with a warm kind smile before heading over to the bottom of the stairs waiting for her.**

Kali sighed wistfully at the sight. "So romantic~ Ghira, we should do that more often!" Prompting the panther man to look at his wife wide eyed, but conceding the point after internal deliberation and nodded.

John would like to inform his wife of similar plans, except she had that scheming smile on her face.

Bart suddenly spoke up once more. "Reminds me to get back into the dating scene sometime soon."

"Ah, youth, romance, love!" waxed the ever-proliferating Port. "What wondrous and magical sight to look at. Glynda looked down, not wanting anyone to see her visage marred with jealousy.

"**Milady, care to come down and enjoy your mother's day dinner?" Jaune asked in a courteous suave manner as Pyrrha stepped down the steps and took his hand.**

"**Hmm, no need to be so courteous, Jaune. I prefer the traditional good old fashioned approach to romance than extravagant gestures." Pyrrha said with a hum of delight as she felt her hands pulled on his gently till he pulled her into his broad chest.**

"**Well that's a relief. Let's eat, shall we?" Jaune let out with a hearty chuckle and cradled Pyrrha closely letting her nudge her head into his chest happily before seating themselves down at the table.**

**Once they started eating, which Pyrrha found the food absolutely exquisite, they started reminiscing about the first time they started dating. Namely Jaune did and Pyrrha listened with rapt attention.**

The redhead in the theater now sat up with all senses oriented towards the screen, fully intent to absorb the information to woo her own dense blonde.

**According to Jaune it was during their second year after they had upgraded their outfits, one time Pyrrha saved a nearly dying Jaune from being killed by a trio of Alpha Beowolves. As she fought them off in her gold and dark outfit with hair flowing freely, Jaune fell in love with her right then and there. He had his epiphany that she was always the perfect girl for him, so sweet and kind as she was, as well as fierce huntress warrior.**

"Step one, change outfit," Pyrrha recounted while blushing, swaying and giggling. "Step two, fight with him against Grimm. Step three, let hair down and fight the last ones that way. Step four, profit!"

'_Not on my watch._'

**It was later that night that a fully recovered Jaune and called Pyrrha to the rooftop where they first started training so long ago, it was there that he confessed his feelings and asked her out on a date. Pyrrha did literally faint upon hearing it, thinking it was some sort of fever dream, but then once she woke up in their room Jaune kissed her for real and convinced her that it happened. That he fell in love with her and confessed, from then on it was considered Pyrrha's happiest day of her life, and the two began dating from there onward.**

'**Wow, so that is how it happens!' Pyrrha squealed mentally in utter excitement taking mental notes on dressing in that new outfit and coming to Jaune's rescue if he gets in a pinch. Or at least fight Grimm in that attire and looking good while doing it.**

Pyrrha in the audinece nodded furiously, having made up her mind on this course of action. There were others, however, who would interfere without hesitation.

Yang found that her chest stung a little seeing Jaune and Pyrrha like that. She wondered why.

**The two ate comfortably in each others company for thirty minutes, then Jaune went and turned in the dishes to wash later on and cleaned himself. He stood up before Pyrrha and took her hands, she giggled happily as she was led up by the hands and taken up the stairs into their bedroom for the main event of their evening.**

"Here it comes," Tori shot up. "Everyone vacate-"

"**Huuuh?" She awoke and blinked open her eyes when she woke up back inside her bed at Beacon, within her dorm. **

"The theater what?" Everyone was dumbfounded. After the shower scene there was nothing else, just returning to the waking world? Sure, Pyrrha was glad for it, but there was als osome disappointment.

**Sitting up she looked around marveling at how everything was the same then feeling so confused as to how that dream felt so real. She touched her face to make sure then looked over to Jaune's sleeping form before getting out of her bed and softly walking over.**

**Noticing Ren and Nora still slept in their beds, the latter snoring loudly, looking unchanged from when she saw them in her dream. Pyrrha stood by Jaune's sleeping form and eyed him with an intense look of longing in her eyes. She gently moved her right hand over to his sleeping angelic face and gently lightly stroked his cheek affectionately.**

"**I will make that dream a reality. I swear it. Maybe it was a possible future shown to me in a vision, but now more than ever, I want to make that dream I lived a reality. My dream is you, Jaune." She said soothingly and leaned down kissing his forehead before eventually going back to her bed to sleep again till morning.**

"So, that's that, then." Tai sighed, with a hand sliding down his face. "Okay..."

He was interrupted by something mechanic shifting at the wall, revealing a scroll with a blinking display, showing the words "Explicit scene". Above said scroll was a different display which showed. "ID: Nikos, Pyrrha".

The named did not hesitate for a second, immediately grabbing the scroll and disappearing into a conveniently placed adjacent room while giggling maniacally.

"Well..."

"**And now for something different..."**

"ooh, it's still going!"  
"Great..."

Suddenly, wild giggles turning into maniacal laughter erupted from the room. "Jackpot!" could be heard, as well as a muted "So big!"

Just like that, the girls were immensely jealous, with Tori cheering unironically alongside Nora.

**(Yeah, I'm gonna do it like this. Actual scene here from "Team Neighborhood 2 Episode 2: Cable Calamity" by Great Dictator on Youtube.)**

**The screen showed the title "Tai and Qrow go shopping".**

Two eyebrows from two different people rose up. "Okay…?"

**The two stood before an empty fridge, before Qrow snorted, took his flask to his lips and grabbed Tai along for a ride.**

"Oh no."

"What?"

"You're a menace as a driver, Qrow!"

Winter was aghast. "He's going to drive? That drunkard?"

His nieces winced, knowing this was not going to go well.

**The father of two was thrown into a dinghy Pick-Up truck with Qrow making to drive...and whipping out a grenade launcher instead, which he used to propel the car into the air, flying towards Vale, with the blonde man screaming in terror.**

"WHAT THE FUCK!"  
"LANGUAGE! ALSO, WHAT THE HELL!"

No one was prepared to see that. And Weiss had flashbacks to the first world.

**The car landed seamlessly onto a street in the big city, with Qrow not setting down his flask once and Tai still screaming his head off.**

"Accurate reaction! Holy sh-crap!"  
"Tai," John looked at the other blonde quizzically. "She's 15, not 5."

"Screw you, she's my baby girl!"

"Daaaad," whined the baby girl.

**The car then made to drive over several hapless civilians on the way to the nearest supermarket, with Tai now screaming at his partner. The drunkard looked back before the father suffered a hallucination of a demonic drunkard playing the bagpipe and the background turning into a plaid hellscape.**

**The screaming became more terrified.**

"WHAT THE FUCK?! WHAT THE FUCK?!"

"What- I," Winter was at a loss. "What did I just see?"

"Basically?" Coco answered. "This is what went down in the first viewing. Just think of it as a comedy skit." The specialist remained nonplussed, but nodded.

**At last, the joyride ended and the tow arrived at the supermarket, with Qrow standing in front of an unamused cashier babbling incoherently.**

**How unfortunate that neither of them could grab their respective wallets.**

"All of that," the dad breathed. "For nothing."

"Well fuck," commented Qrow succinctly.

**The screen turned back to their home in Patch, with Qrow sitting on the couch and weeping.**

"**I did all I could!" he babbled, with Tai looking utterly dumbfounded.**

"**What the bloody hell just happened?**

"Well, stuff, you know," Fox sarcastically remarked. His sentence was weirdly underscored by the viscerally _sensual_ sounds of a spartan enjoying herself getting dicked by her crush.

"Can we watch something else?!" came the panicked voice of Velvet. The screen answered.

**(Original from "Code: MENT Episode 16" by PurpleEyesWTF)**

**Sun and Neptune and Soup  
**

"Soup?" the two boys looked at each other quizzically.

**Sun rang up Neptune on his scroll, attempting to reach him…**

**Sun: "Hello?"  
Neptune: "Hey, what's up?"**

**S: "I need your help, can you come here?"**

**N: "I can't, I'm buying clothes."**

"Oh?" And immediately, Coco sprung up. "This should be interesting."

**S: "Alright, well, hurry up and come over here."**

**N: "I can't find 'em."**

"He what?" That baffled them. How hard could that be?  
"Did he mean he can't find the right ones?" Sun suggested.

**S: "What do you mean 'you can't find 'em?'"**

**N: "I can't find 'em, there's only soup."**

What?

**S: "What do you mean there's only soup?" **both Sun on screen and Coco in the theater asked that at the same time, making Velvet suppress a chortle.

**N: "It means there's only soup."**

**S: ****Well get out of the soup aisle! **Again with Coco yelling, now making Fox and Yatsu bite their tongues.**  
****N****: Alright, you don't have to shout at me!**

**Footsteps could be heard next, then...**

**N: ****There's more soup!  
****S****: Whaddya mean "there's more soup"?! **Teams RWBY and NR started to laugh as well, yes, even Weiss, who found this syncronization quite funny.**  
****N****: There's just more soup!  
****S****: Go into the next aisle!  
****N:**** There's still soup!  
****S****: Where are you right now?! **The parents were chuckling now.**  
****N****: I'm at soup!  
****S****: WHADDYA MEAN YOU'RE "AT SOUP"!? **Yang was howling with laughter now.**  
****N****: I MEAN I'M AT SOUP!  
****S****: WHAT'S STORE ARE YOU IN?!  
****N****: I'M AT THE SOUP STORE!  
****S****: WHY ARE YOU BUYING CLOTHES AT THE SOUP STORE?!  
****N****: FUCK YOU! **

That did it; now everyone was laughing while Coco was frothing.

"I'm at soup!" cackled Tai, again and again.

After everyone calmed down, they said their goodbyes, seeing that time was running out for today, some not looking forward to the chores to be done. However, promises were made to return tomorrow for another round of fun. Just as Jaune's parents made to leave, Pyrrha emerged from her own video session. She seemed to be glowing and, generally speaking, much happier than before. No one had to guess why she looked like that, and it only intensified the jealousy others felt.

"Don't forget!" Tori sang. "Bring Jaune here next time, please!"

"Sure," Nora replied. "But go easy on him," she added with a mild whimper. The mother seemed confused more than anything.

"I'm not gonna hurt him, if that's what you worry about. Do I look like some psychopathic womanchild with anger issues?" she asked with a cheeky smile. Nora, smiling, just shook her head in reply.

"Do go easy on him once you ask the question, Weiss," Winter reminded her sister. "Remember that he most likely had a valid reason to do what he did."

Weiss sighed in reply but conceded to her sister's wishes. "I will at least hear him out, Winter. Do not worry."

Smiling and nodding, the specialist took her leave, much like the others, Kali with a cheery "Bye Blakey, see you tomorrow!"

Thus, the students made their way out of the theater as well, stepping through the wooden door and closing it; Nora briefly opening it again just to check.

Pyrrha didn't register a thing. She was a happy camper, while two others schemed to make ther respective move first.

All in all, a eventful day.


End file.
